Leah Zellner - Field Hockey Coach - Indiana University Athletics

Leah Zellner

Title:
Assistant Coach
Email:
lzellner@iu.edu

Indiana coach Kayla Bashore hired Leah Zellner to Indiana Field Hockey’s coaching staff as an assistant coach in March 2023.

Zellner enters her third season on the Indiana Field Hockey coaching staff in fall 2025.

She helped lead the program with a big step forward in 2024. The campaign saw the team go 9-9 on the year with a Big Ten Tournament appearance, three ranked victories and a 4-4 Big Ten mark.

The Hoosiers defeated No. 12 Iowa on the road, 2-1 (2 OT) (Oct. 11), No. 18 California, 2-0 (Oct. 18) and No. 7 Michigan on the road (Oct. 27). Indiana’s Big Ten Tournament appearance was its first since 2021. The No. 7 Seed Hoosiers narrowly lost to No. 3 Seed Michigan, 2-1, in overtime, in the tournament’s opening round.

The three ranked wins were the most in a season since 2011 while the four Big Ten wins notched the program’s best Big Ten record since 2015 when the team went 5-3 in the conference.

Under Zellner’s help, Inés Garcia Prado earned All-Big Ten First Team honors while Yip van Wonderen and Sofia Arrebola Garcia were named to the Second Team. Garcia Prado and van Wonderen were also named NFHCA All-Region First and Second Team, respectively, as well. Sadie Canelli was also named to the Big Ten’s All-Freshman Team.

Indiana excelled in the classroom, as well, notching three NFHCA Scholars of Distinction and 17 student-athletes being recognized for both Academic All-Big Ten honors and the NFHCA’S National Academic Squad.

Zellner helped the team further its development in 2023. Some highlights included a 2-0 weekend at the Theresa Check Invitational (Sep. 3-4) in Oxford, Ohio along with a handful of close wins, such as a 2-1 win in shootouts over Penn (Sep. 16) in Evanston, Ill. and a 3-2 overtime victory over Kent State on Senior Day.

With Zellner’s counsel, freshman Inés Garcia Prado and redshirt Senior Sydney Keld had All-Big Ten Second Team seasons. Garcia Prado was also named to the NFHCA’s West Region Second Team. The Hoosiers also excelled in the classroom with 13 student-athletes earning Academic All-Big Ten.

Zellner came to Bloomington after graduating from the University of Iowa and playing five seasons of field hockey there from 2018-2022.

Zellner transitioned from her playing career to the coaching ranks with plenty of success and knowledge as she starred in five great seasons as a Hawkeye.

She played in 96 games with 70 starts while also marking 15 goals and 10 assists in the course of her career. The standout forward recorded six game-winning goals and had 65.4% of her shots taken on goal throughout her five years, as well.

In the 2019 season she posted a career-best seven goals.

Zellner’s Iowa teams had a combined record of 72-29 in her five seasons. Those five seasons featured two Big Ten regular season championships (2019, 2021), a Big Ten Tournament title (2019) and five NCAA Tournament appearances.

In the 2020-21 season, the Hawkeyes reached the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament before falling to No. 1 North Carolina.

Zellner is an Emmaus, Pa. native and had a standout career at Emmaus High School. She notched 110 goals and 49 assists in her career there.

She was a two-time Pennsylvania AAA State Champion in 2015 and 2016 and was a three-time Eastern Pennsylvania Conference Champion from 2015-2017.

Zellner was also selected to the USA Indoor Field Hockey Team in 2016 and 2017 and was a gold medalist at the U-16 National Club Championship in 2016 and U-19 Shooting Star Showcase with the WC Eagles.