CHICAGO – UIC head softball coach Lynn Curylo has rounded out her coaching staff with the additions of Liz Beirne and Katie O'Connell as assistant coaches, she announced on Wednesday.
 
Beirne joins the Flames after spending two years as an assistant under Curylo at Wright State, while O'Connell heads to Chicago following six seasons on the staff at Illinois alongside former head coach and UIC alum Terri Sullivan.
 
"Both Liz and Katie bring a great deal of coaching experience to the table," said Curylo. "They know what drives winning and understand the expectations that go along with coaching a program that has had a history of success!"
 
In her time at Wright State, Beirne worked with the pitching staff, aiding in the development of all-Horizon League hurlers Ashley Sharp and Montana Wear, who combined in 2015 and 2016 for 50 wins, 283 strikeouts, 10 shutouts and a 2.15 ERA. The Raiders went 60-56 and 31-13 in conference play in her two years, reaching the championship game in the Horizon League Tournament both seasons.
 
Prior to WSU, Beirne served as an assistant for six seasons at Georgia Southern, where she coached the pitchers to five Southern Conference Pitcher of the Year honors, including three consecutive for Sarah Purvis. The Eagles additionally had five NFCA All-Region Second Team selections and one SoCon Freshman of the Year accolade during her tenure. With the help of Beirne, Purvis went down in the NCAA record book with three perfect games and six no-hitters. The Eagles won the SoCon regular season title in 2012 and 2014 and the tournament crown in 2012 and 2013.
 
Beirne began her coaching career as a graduate assistant at Liberty before moving on to spend one season as the pitching coach at Tennessee State.
 
During her playing career, Beirne was a standout pitcher at Olivet Nazarene, earning placement on the 2003 National Christian Colleges Athletic Association All-American First Team. An All-Chicago Collegiate Athletic Conference selection, she garnered a career record of 74-26 with 32 shutouts and helped Olivet to a third-place finish at the 2003 NAIA national tournament and a team record 61 wins, posting a personal record of 29-7 with a 1.61 ERA.
 
In six seasons as an assistant at Illinois, O'Connell helped the team amass a record of 174-126, including 14 wins over ranked opponents, and post a record of 68-59 in Big Ten play. The Illini had repeat appearances in the NCAA Tournament in 2009 and 2010, during a time that featured 74 victories.
 
O'Connell helped Illinois to a No. 25 ranking in the USA Today/NFCA Final Poll in 2010 in the process of coaching the team to three NFCA All-America nods in Danielle Zymkowitz (2009, 2011) and Meredith Hackett (2010), 10 NFCA All-Region accolades and 17 All-Big Ten honors.
 
Before her move back to Champaign, O'Connell was a three-year head coach at Casey-Westfield High School, where she led the Warriors to Illinois Class A state runner-up finishes in back-to-back years.
 
O'Connell was a standout second baseman for Illinois from 2001-04, ending her career ranked among the program leaders in games played, games started, at bats, doubles, walks, sacrifice flies and sacrifice hits. She helped the team to back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances in 2003 and 2004, and had a memorable senior campaign that featured 45 wins and a trip to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen.