Poughkeepsie, N.Y. -- Katie Tijerina was named the head coach of the Marist University women's water polo program on Tuesday afternoon. 

Tijerina becomes the fifth head coach in the history of the Marist program, which competes in the NCAA Division I as a member of the Metro Conference. She spent the past year and a half on the sidelines of Connecticut College, serving as the assistant for both the men's and women's teams under head coach Matt Anderson.

"I could not be happier for Katie, she came here with the goal of wanting to learn how to one day lead her own program, and succeeded in reaching that goal," said Anderson. "She was a relentless recruiter, extremely organized, and worked very well with both the men's and women's team. The fact that she gets to go back to her alma mater to be a head coach is almost any former player's dream job. Marist is getting a high-quality person who will put a lot of time, effort, and love into the program. While it will be sad to see her leave, it is exciting to have another assistant leave to take over their own program. We have had a good run of success developing head coaches, and look forward to continuing down that pathway.

Tijerina returns to Marist where she was a two-time ACWPC Honorable Mention All-American and a two-time All-MAAC recipient. She finished her career with the Red Foxes ranked first all-time in program history in steals, third in assists, and seventh in goals.

Tijerina played an instrumental role in Conn's recent success, along with the transition of the men's program from the CWPA to the MPSF this past fall. In two seasons with the women's program, Tijerina helped guide the squad to back-to-back seventh place finishes, while the men's team finished ninth in their first season in the MPSF.