Mary Beth Barham

Mary Beth Barham, born in Fairfax, Virginia, and a graduate of W.T. Woodson High School, established her field hockey career at Yale University. She majored in environmental studies within Jonathan Edwards College. Her collegiate playing career included an Ivy League title in 2011, her junior season. In her senior year, she was a first team All-Ivy League honoree and was selected second team All-Mideast Region by the NFHCA. Barham also participated in the NFHCA Senior Game and received the Yale Player of the Year Award and the Coaches Award. During her senior season, she transitioned from a forward/midfielder role to defense, starting all 17 games, a position she played in 66 games over her four-year career, scoring 12 goals. This included two goals in Yale’s 2-1 overtime victory against Harvard in 2012, contributing to her class being the first in school history to achieve a 4-0 record against the Crimson.

Following her collegiate career, Barham began her coaching journey as a volunteer assistant coach for the Georgetown field hockey team in the 2014 season. She returned to her alma mater, Yale, in 2015 as an assistant coach and was promoted to a full-time role in 2016, also serving as the team’s recruiting coordinator. During her tenure, Yale’s field hockey program showed significant improvement, including more than doubling their win total in 2016 from the previous season and securing more league wins. She contributed to goalkeeper Emilie Katz ’17 receiving the Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year award, second team All-Region, and first team All-Ivy League honors. Beiler helped Katz to become a unanimous first team All-Ivy League selection and a second team All-Region selection, with Katz finishing second nationally in saves per game and fourth in save percentage in her first season back at Yale. Barham also worked with the defense, limiting opponents to two or fewer goals in nine games.

Beyond coaching, Barham has been active in USA Field Hockey programs. She earned a spot on the US Senior Indoor National Squad in 2015 and helped the U.S. secure a win in the three-game Can American Series in March 2016, scoring three goals in the opener. In 2017, she was named to the U.S. Developmental Squad, and later joined the U.S. National Team in 2018, leading to a transition to a volunteer coaching role at Yale. She played for the U.S. in the FIH Pro League in both 2019 and 2020-21. She returned to a full-time coaching role at Yale in August of 2021. Her international experience includes participating in the Indoor World Cup in Berlin in 2018, winning Gold at the 2017 Indoor Pan American Cup, and competing in the FIH Pro League where the U.S. placed 9th in both 2019 and 2020, and 10th at the 2018 Indoor Hockey World Cup.