Carla Tagliente has left to become the field hockey coach at Princeton, leaving UMass with a short window to replace her.

UMass hasn’t officially announced its 2016 schedule, but the season usually begins in the final week of August. Preseason practice starts in early August, leaving UMass about a month to find a coach.

Athletic director Ryan Bamford said he’s already begun searching for prospective candidates. He said he’s open to filling the position with an interim coach if a permanent candidate doesn’t emerge in the short time frame.

“We’ve been quietly seeing what the interest level might be among coaches we might be interest in,” Bamford said. “We’re five or six weeks from the start of preseason so the timing is really tricky. I don’t want to make a decision for the short term that might affect us for the long term in a way we’re not comfortable with.

“We think we have a great job. We’re going to look both at coaches we could sign to a long-term deal as well as ones that might look at seasonal opportunities for this year,” Bamford added. “We’re beating the bushes to see who is available in each scenario.”

Bamford said Tagliente was up front with him about her mutual interest with Princeton, leaving him more ready to react. Princeton announced Tagliente’s hiring on Tuesday.

“We knew this process was going on. The Princeton coach was looking for opportunities outside of coaching for about a month,” he said.

Tagliente was 64-44 in five seasons at UMass. She led the Minutewomen to three Atlantic 10 Tournament titles and three NCAA Tournaments. She won Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year honors three times.

UMass was 12-9 in 2015 and won the Atlantic 10 Tournament.

Sarah Mansfield is the only assistant from Tagliente’s staff staying at UMass.

“Sarah has done a good job for us,” Bamford said. “Whether we get a long-term or a short-term solution, we’d like to keep her for at lest this season.”

Princeton finished 2015 with a 5-0 loss to Syracuse in the quarterfinal round of NCAA Tournament. The 16th-ranked Tigers (11-7) featured Hatfield native and sophomore Danielle Duseau.

Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage