University of New Haven Athletics

The all-time winningest softball coach at the University of New Haven, Jen Starek completed her 15th season as the head coach of the Chargers in 2021. Overall in her tenure, the Chargers have made eight NCAA postseason appearances including the program’s first appearance in the Super Regionals in 2010. That same season, the Chargers set a school record with 42 wins and an .840 winning percentage.

This past season, Starek led the Chargers to a second-straight appearance in the NCAA Division II East Region Championships, the 13th time in the history of the program, closing out the 2021 season with a 28-9 overall record, the 12th time in her tenure with 25+ wins. Among the individual highlights for the Chargers was junior Ava Fitzmaurice who was the sixth player under Starek’s tutelage to earn All-America honors. Fitzmaurice finished among the top-10 in the country in ERA while leading the NE10 with a .371 batting average to pace the Chargers on both sides of the ball.

In addition to her All-America accolades, Fitzmaurice was named All-Region by the NFCA and the D2CCA while also a two-time honoree on the NE10 All-Conference First Team as a pitcher and as a utility. Joining Fitzmaurice in earning All-Conference accolades following the 2021 campaign was junior Nahtali Simpson (third team) and Ellie Frederick (rookie team).

Prior to having the 2020 campaign cut short by the CoVID-19 shutdown, Starek led the Chargers back to the East Regionals for the first time since 2017 when the Blue and Gold earned an at-large bid in 2019. That season, she led New Haven to a 33-16 overall record, the sixth time in her tenure with 30+ wins. Individually, then freshman Mya Case led New Haven in 2019, named to the D2CCA All-East Region Team after earning NE10 All-Conference honors, one of five players to be recognized in the postseason.

In 2018, Starek mentored Taylor Luzzi and Jovanna Hillman, who each collected NE10 First Team honors, as the Chargers earned their first NE10 playoff win since 2014. Luzzi and Hillman later received NFCA All-East Region honors. 

In 2017, Starek led the Chargers to a 30-16 overall record and appeared in the NE10 tournament and received an at-large bid to the 2018 NCAA East Region Championship. That season, Starek coached eight All-Conference players (Megan Butts, Gabby DeLeo, Taylor Luzzi, Sierra Whitlock, Julie Devlin, Marisa Colby, Cat Vaughan, Kylie Stonebraker), including Butts who was named the 2017 NE10 Rookie of the Year and DeLeo who was tabbed as the NE10 Defensive Player of the Year. Luzzi, Colby and Whitlock all went on to receive All-Region honors. 

As the longest tenured coach in program history, Starek closed out the 2018 season with 354 career victories, surpassing the 300 win plateau during the 2017 campaign. Overall, she holds a record of 387-223-2 (.634) at New Haven and a career record of 430-283-2 including previous head coaching stints at Mount Ida and Simmons.

The Native of Holliston, Mass. is a two-time Northeast-10 Coach of the Year, most recently in 2014 when she led New Haven to the NE10 Southwest Division regular-season title for the first time since divisional play began in 2013.

Over her career, Starek has coached four All-Americans including 2010 graduate Breanne Gleason who is a three-time All-America and the Daktronics East Region Pitcher and Player of the Year, the only player under Starek to earn that distinction. Additionally, 15 of Starek’s players have been named to All-Region teams, while 21 have earned All-Conference distinction, including Gleason who was the NE10 Pitcher and Player of the Year in 2010 as well as Pitcher of the Year in 2009 and Christina Gelardi who earned NE10 Player of the Year accolades in 2013.

Additionally, 17 of Starek’s current or former players are scattered throughout the All-Time record books. Starek’s former players also account for the all-time leader in at-bats (Gleason), hits (Nicole Downs), runs (Gelardi), doubles (Gleason), home runs (Downs), runs batted in (Lindsey Couturier), stolen bases (Chelsea Harold), walks (Gelardi), pitching appearances (Gleason), pitching wins (Gleason), innings pitched (Gleason) and strikeouts (Gleason).

As Starek hit the decade mark in 2016, she led the Chargers to the NE10 Conference Championship for the sixth time in seven years and closed out the campaign with a 23-15 overall record and a 12-11 mark in conference play. Five Chargers earned All-Conference honors for New Haven, highlighted by freshman Taylor Luzzi who along with Third Team All-Conference honors was also named the NE10 Rookie of the Year, the first under Starek. Joining her in earning league distinction was Nicole King, Julie Devlin, Marissa Colby and Jen Palase who also garnered All-Region honors from the D2CCA and the NFCA.

The All-Conference honors for Palase and King in 2016 marked the second straight year the pair scored the accolades as each were named to the All-Conference Second Team in 2015 as well. That year, which included King becoming the fifth player with 400 or more strikeouts, the pair helped lead New Haven to a 16-16-12 record.

The 2014 season marked Starek’s second Northeast-10 Coach of the Year honor as the Chargers won the NE10 Southwest Division regular-season title closing out the year with a 29-18 overall record. With an 18-8 conference slate, New Haven hosted the conference championship, but fell to eventual champion Southern New Hampshire before earning the fourth seed in the NCAA East Region Championship and hosting the regional on campus. 

In 2013, Starek produced the Chargers’ seventh-straight winning season – a stretch that began when she took over the program in 2007. The team finished 38-15 and reached both the NE10 and NCAA Regional championship games. New Haven earned its first NFCA national ranking (No. 24) since landing at No. 21 in the 2011 preseason poll. Starek also guided the program’s first-ever NFCA All-America First Team selection, Christina Gelardi, to Northeast-10 Conference Player of the Year laurels. Gelardi led the nation with a .649 on-base percentage, while pitcher Micah Stonesifer and first baseman Jess Spivey also collected All-Region accolades.

The Chargers finished 29-19 in 2012 and earned the seventh seed in the Northeast-10 Championship, going on to knock off second Adelphi and advance to the championship weekend tournament. That season, Starek mentored Shannon Angehr to First Team All-NE-10 and Second Team NFCA All-East Region laurels in the outfield.

In 2011, New Haven advanced to the Northeast-10 Championship as the fourth seed and was one of three teams left standing on the tournament’s final day of action. The Chargers also claimed the seventh seed in the NCAA East Region Championship, marking the club’s fourth-straight NCAA postseason trip. After concluding the season with a 34-19 overall record, Chelsea Harold and Gelardi both earned NFCA All-America honors and were two of the four Chargers to claim All-NE10 recognition.

The 2010 campaign was a landmark season for the Chargers highlighted by earning the program’s first NE10 Regular Season Championship and the top seed in the NCAA Division II East Region Championship. Starek claimed NE10 Conference Coach of the Year honors for the first time as she guided the Blue and Gold to a program-record 42 wins and made the longest NCAA postseason run in program history, finishing the spring ranked No. 16 in the NFCA Division II Top 25 poll. After sweeping the regional, the Chargers advanced to their first ever Super Regional, falling to Molloy in the deciding game of a best-of-three series.

The 2010 season also marked the end of arguably one of the best four-year careers in New Haven softball history. Breanne Gleason, Starek’s only former player currently inducted in the New Haven Athletics Alumni Hall of Fame, was a two-time All-America honoree and only the second player in Northeast-10 history to earn Pitcher and Player of the Year in the same season (2010). She was also the 20th NCAA Division II pitcher to record 1,000 career strikeouts and the 22nd to register 100 wins. Gleason was a four-time All-Region selection, a two-time First Team All-NE-10 honoree and recorded the most recent perfect game in New Haven history – a 3-0 win over Dowling on March 17, 2010.

Starek took over the Chargers’ program in 2007 and led the team to a 26-19 record – an eight-win improvement from the previous campaign. She followed that up by guiding the Chargers to the NCAA East Regional Championship final in 2008 and 2009.

Prior to her arrival at New Haven, Starek spent two years as head softball and field hockey coach at Simmons College in Boston. The Sharks’ 2006 softball team won the Colleges of the Fenway Tournament and scored an opening-round win in the Great Northeast Atlantic Conference (GNAC) Playoffs. The team posted a 19-19 record overall, including wins in seven of the team’s last nine games, to improve upon a 17-22 mark from 2005. She was also the co-head coach of Pressure Softball’s 16U Team during 2005 and 2006.

Previously, Starek has been head softball coach, assistant athletic director and an adjunct professor of sports management at Mount Ida College (2003-04). She was also an assistant softball coach at her alma mater, Springfield College, from 2001-03 which included the programs second-highest win total in a 17-year span with a 33-12 overall record in 2003.

A standout softball and field hockey player at Springfield, Starek graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor of science degree in athletic training from Springfield College in 2001, and earned an MS in athletic administration in 2003. As a catcher and outfielder in softball, she was twice a NEWMAC First Team All-Conference selection (2000, 2001), NFCA All-New England Second Team (2001), and NEISCA Division III second team All-Star (1999). The Pride won their first-ever NEWMAC Tournament in 2000, advancing to the NCAA Tournament with a 30-17-1 record. The following season as a senior, Starek led Springfield to a 41-10 record, their highest win total in at least 17 years.

Additionally, Starek led the Pride field hockey team to NEWMAC titles 1998, 1999 and 2000. They advanced to the national championship game in 2000, her final season.

Starek is a native of Holliston, Mass., and currently resides in West Haven, Conn.