University of Mount Olive

Daan Polders begins his fourth season as head coach of the University of Mount Olive field hockey team after becoming the inaugural head women's field hockey coach in January 2019. 

In the 2021 season, Polders saw the most improvement earning a program-high six wins and their first win over a nationally-ranked opponent.

The team found success early on in the 2019 season with an impressive win against Converse. Polders coached freshman goalie Victoria Lane to her first South Atlantic Conference Carolinas All-Conference accolade for her impressive performance during the 2019 season. Lane led the conference in saves (154) and was the statistical champion for saves per game with 11. Additionally, the team captured a statistical record for saves per game (11.50). 

Polders came to UMO having had successful experiences coaching field hockey at the international, national, collegiate, and high school levels.

He is the head coach of the U.S. U-17 Women's National Field Hockey Team and has been coaching within the USA Field Hockey organization since 2003.

Prior to coming to Mount Olive, Polders spent the last four years as the field hockey program director and head varsity coach at Villa Maria Academy in Pennsylvania. While at Villa Maria, Polders led the Hurricanes to two state championship titles and a state runner-up finish, while compiling an 88-6 overall record.

Before he was at Villa Maria, Polders served as the director of field hockey and the head field hockey varsity coach at Colorado Academy in Denver, Colo. In his two years there, Polders guided the program to two perfect seasons with a record of 35-0, that included two state championships, two conference championships and two Coach of the Year awards.

The Netherlands native boasts experience coaching at Division I schools including Wake Forest University (2005-2011) where he served as an associate head coach and Michigan State University (2002-2005) where Polders took his first collegiate coaching position as an assistant.

While at Wake Forest, he helped the program to four NCAA Final Four appearances and four ACC Championship game appearances. The Demon Deacons claimed one ACC tournament title and two ACC regular-season champion titles during his tenure. 

Just before Polders arrived at Wake Forest, he helped the Spartans of Michigan State to three Big Ten regular-season titles, two Big Ten Conference Tournament titles, two NCAA Elite Eight appearances, and two NCAA Final Four appearances.

Early in his field hockey career, Polders played in the Dutch National League and on the Dutch National Army Team. He coached for many years in the Netherlands, learning different philosophies, techniques, and methods, which he uses in his current coaching.