Katie Wertman (Zichelli) will enter her seventh season as the head women’s lacrosse coach at Haverford College in 2024.

In the 2023 season, Wertman guided the Fords to a second consecutive Centennial Conference semifinals, facing No. 10 Franklin & Marshall for the second consecutive season. Tiffany Mikulis was named Centennial Conference Midfielder of the Year, and four other Haverford players received Centennial Conference honors. Katharine Ference and Tiffany Mikulis were recognized as USA Lacrosse Magazine All-Americans. Mikulis also took home IWLCA All-America honors, along with four other teammates receiving IWLCA All-Metro honors.

In 2022, Wertman took the program to new heights as the Fords reached the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1991 and earned the No. 25 ranking in the final IWLCA rankings.  Haverford bowed out after a tough fight against No. 6 Franklin & Marshall in the Centennial Conference semifinals and were forced to sweat out a potential at-large berth to the NCAA tournament, a call they enthusiastically received with a trip to Ithaca College to do battle with local foe Cabrini in the first round, falling 18-15 in that NCAA First Round showdown in New York.

During that 2022 season, Haverford posted a 13-9 win over No. 22 Christopher Newport in just the third game of the season, and impressively went 8-2 on the road during the campaign.

Wertman also led the Fords to the Centennial Conference Tournament and a national ranking in the IWLCA Division III National Coaches Poll during both the 2018 and 2019 seasons. Wertman owns a 38-21 coaching record at Haverford. She has coached 13 All-Centennial Conference players and 10 all-region honorees.

Most recently, Roma Hladky ’22 was named an Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Association (IWLCA) All-American following an illustrious 2022 season. Hladky became the first Haverford player to earn honors on the All-America second team or higher since the 2000 season. Previously, Anna Meyers ’20 became the program’s first All-American in nearly 10 years when she earned Inside Lacrosse All-American accolades in 2020.

In the classroom, Wertman’s team was recognized as the IWLCA Merit Squad for having the highest GPA of any Division III program following the 2019 season. The Fords have been recognized as an IWLCA Academic Squad every year and have had 80 student-athletes named to the Centennial Conference Academic Honor Roll.

In 2021, Haverford finished with the second-highest scoring attack in all of Division III while leading the nation in shots per game. Just one season prior, the Fords posted an undefeated 3-0 record on their home field. In Haverford’s last full season, the Fords reached the Centennial Conference semifinals for the first time since 2015. Highlighting the victories during Wertman’s tenure was the program’s highest-ranked win ever as the Fords defeated No. 3 TCNJ by a 12-10 score on Swan Field during the 2019 campaign. That was one of two nationally-ranked victories on the year as the Fords also defeated No. 22 Dickinson during the first round of the Centennial Conference Tournament.

Haverford was ranked as high as No. 20 in the IWLCA Poll throughout the 2019 season. The Fords were also ranked nationally in Wertman’s first season when she led the program to a 12-5 record, the most wins for the Fords in five years.

Wertman came to Haverford after spending the previous three seasons as the assistant coach/associate head coach at Franklin & Marshall College.

During her time with the Diplomats, Wertman had a hand in all aspects of the program that won two Centennial Conference Championships (2015, 17), made two appearances in the NCAA Final Four (2015, 16), and had another trip to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen (2017). Her work was instrumental in helping the Diplomats to a 58-11 record over those three seasons, including a 25-2 mark in Centennial Conference matchups.

In addition to her work recruiting, scouting, developing practice plans, and organizing clinics, Wertman was primarily in charge of the Franklin & Marshall defense that led the Centennial Conference in caused turnovers during each of her three seasons while also collecting the most ground balls during two of those years. Her defense never finished outside of the top 12 teams in Division III in goals against average, ranking as high as seventh in 2016 when her unit allowed just 5.92 goals per game.

Prior to her time as an assistant at Franklin & Marshall, Wertman got her start in college coaching as the top assistant at Susquehanna University during the 2012 through 2014 seasons. Susquehanna made the NCAA Tournament in each of her final two seasons, winning the 2013 Landmark Conference Championship. Wertman was named the IWLCA Division III Assistant Coach of the Year in 2013 and was part of the Landmark's Coaching Staff of the Year on two occasions (2012, 13).

Outside of college coaching, Wertman has prior head coaching experience with the Xtreme Lacrosse Club in Lancaster, Pa. and previously spent three summers as the head coach of the STEPS Lacrosse Club in Chester, N.J.

Wertman graduated from Lock Haven in 2011 with bachelor's degree in management and marketing. During her time as a student-athlete with the Division II Bald Eagles, she was a two-year captain who led the team to three Pennsylvania State Athletics Conference (PSAC) Championships (2009, 10, 11) and a pair of Division II runner-up finishes (2009, 10). A four-time All-American who earned first-team accolades during each of her final three seasons, Wertman was twice named the IWLCA Division II Defender of the Year (2009, 11). She was named the NCAA statistical champion in both ground balls and caused turnovers during the 2009 and 2010 seasons.