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Lafayette College

Easton, PA 18042
Pennsylvania Northeast
Private Small Developing team
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Katie McConnell

Katie McConnell begins her fourth season with the Lafayette women’s lacrosse program in 2023.


In 2021-22, McConnell finished her third year at Lafayette and her first full campaign after a pair of shortened seasons in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The young Leopard squad finished at 2-13 overall (1-8 PL), earning victories over La Salle and conference foe Boston U. Senior Olivia Cunningham scored her 25th goal of the season against Lehigh on April 20, 2022, marking her 100th career point during her time on College Hill under McConnell. Lafayette was honored for excellence in the classroom as the team was named an Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) Academic Honor Squad with seven individual members named to the Division I Honor Roll following the season on July 27, 2022. Junior Katie Chiasson earned a spot on the 2022 Academic All-Patriot League Team and sophomore Colleen McNamara was chosen as one of 200 NCAA student-athletes to attend the Career in Sports Forum in June.


Before arriving on College Hill, McConnell spent the previous three seasons as head coach at Manhattan College in Riverdale, New York, leading the Jaspers to an 11-6 record in 2019 and the team’s first postseason appearance since 2009. For her efforts, she was named the 2019 MAAC Coach of the Year and the 11 wins were tied for the most in program history.


McConnell’s six league victories were the most for Manhattan since 2005 as she flipped the script on a program that had not eclipsed the five-win mark overall since an 11-5 record in 2009 when they went 4-3 in league play. Additionally, McConnell has proven an ability to recruit top talent with the Jaspers’ Cassidy Burns being named the 2019 MAAC Rookie of the Year this past season.


Taking over the Manhattan program in August 2016, McConnell led a programmatic effort to increase fundraising through an annual phone-a-thon, fundraising dinners, camps and clinics, and private donations. She coached six all-conference players in 2019 and her student-athletes excelled academically as well, carrying a team GPA of 3.45.


Prior to her tenure at Manhattan, McConnell spent the 2015-16 with Coastal Carolina, running the defensive side. In her lone season, she helped to lower the team’s goals-against average by more than a goal per game (9.82 in 2015 to 8.5 in 2016), leading to a semifinal appearance in the Big South Tournament.


McConnell was a four-year starter at Division II Lock Haven in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, where she won three PSAC championships and made quarterfinal, semifinal and final appearances in the NCAA Tournament in 2009, 2010 and 2011. Following her playing career, she served as an assistant coach at her alma mater for three seasons before moving to Coastal Carolina. She received her Masters in Sport Science from Lock Haven in 2015.


In her three coaching seasons at Lock Haven, she made NCAA Championship game appearances in 2014 and 2015, presiding over the nation’s top-ranked defense in 2015. She was named the 2014 IWLCA Division II Assistant Coach of the Year and coached five all-americans, six all-region performers and eight all-conference players.


Outside of college athletics, McConnell is also heavily involved in a number of clubs and organizations in the New York area, fostering connections with programs such as For the Love of the Game (FLG) in Long Island, House of Sports in Westchester, Harlem Lacrosse and Leadership in Harlem and the St. Baldrick's Foundation and Love Your Melon in Bronx.


McConnell is part of an athletic family with both of her brothers, Tim and Frank, and her father, Jerry, involved in football. Jerry is the Offensive Coordinator for the sprint football team at Penn, Tim is an assistant coach with special teams at Rice and Frank coaches the offensive line for the sprint football team at Penn. Tim and Frank both played Division I football at Duquesne and Sacred Heart, respectively.

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Nikki Prestiano

Nicole Prestiano begins her fourth season with Lafayette as an assistant coach in 2022-23.


In 2021-22, the young Leopard squad finished at 2-13 overall (1-8 PL), earning victories over La Salle and conference foe Boston U. Prestiano worked with a pair of goalkeepers in over 900 minutes of play during the season, marking 150 total saves, 99 of which came during conference play. Lafayette was honored for excellence in the classroom as the team was named an Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) Academic Honor Squad with seven individual members named to the Division I Honor Roll following the season on July 27, 2022.


Prestiano comes to College Hill after spending four years between the pipes for Manhattan under Katie McConnell's leadership. During her playing career as a goalie, she was named a four-time Defensive Player of the Week and served as a team captain in her final season.


Prestiano earned her master's in organization leadership from Manhattan in May 2021.

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Sarah Bennett

Sarah Bennett joined the Lafayette women's lacrosse program as an assistant coach during the summer of 2023.


Bennett graduated from Lafayette in May '23 with a B.A. in English. After a four-year career with the women's lacrosse team, the Larchmont, N.Y. native has plenty of experience with the Leopards' roster. The attacker scored a total of 65 points on 40 goals and 25 assists, picked up 26 ground balls and earned 12 draw controls in her 40-game career. Her academic accolades include two selections to the Patriot League Academic Honor Roll.

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Patrick Myers

Head coach Pat Myers enters his fifth season as the Leopards head lacrosse coach in 2023.


Under Myers, the Leopards have led the Patriot League in Academic Honor Roll selections over the past two seasons, setting a program record with 44 student-athletes on the Honor Roll in 2021. The Leopards also earned USILA Academic Team Awards in 2021 and 2022, with Peter Lehman garnering Scholar All-American honors last season.


The program has boasted the highest male team GPA on College Hill since Myers arrival in the summer of 2018, leading the way with a 3.47 team GPA, all while putting in 700-plus hours of community service as a unit in 2021-22.


On the turf, Myers has the Leopards heading in an upward trajectory following a 2022 campaign that included knocking off CAA power Drexel for the first time in 10 years. The 2022 squad also set the program record for goals in a single game in the Patriot League era during a 21-11 victory at Holy Cross.


In 2021, Lehman earned Patriot League Rookie of the Year honors, under the tutelage of Myers, and followed that up with an All-Second Team selection in 2022.


Along with his duties on College Hill, Myers serves on the US Men's Lacrosse U21 staff as an assistant coach for his brother, head coach Nick Myers. He helped lead the Americans to a gold medal with the U19 team 2016 and is prepping this year's squad for the 2022 World Lacrosse Championship in Limerick, Ireland.


Myers helped tutor the Patriot League Rookie of the Year, Peter Lehman, in 2021, just the second Leopard to win the honor in the program's history.


Prior to arriving on College Hill, Myers spent the previous four seasons as the associate head coach at Penn. During his time in Philadelphia, Myers served as the offensive coordinator and recruiting coordinator. He helped oversee a Quaker program with six All-Ivy league selections (two each in 2015, 2016 and 2017) and an Ivy League Rookie of the Year (Simon Mathias in 2016) laurel during his time. In 2018, Penn beat No. 1-ranked Duke for the first time in school history and made its third straight appearance in the Ivy League Tournament. In 2016, Myers worked as an assistant coach with the United States Under-19 team for the 2016 FIL U-19 World Cup in Canada.


Prior to joining the Penn staff, Myers served as an assistant at North Carolina from 2009-14. While there, the Tar Heels posted a 69-30 overall record and qualified for the NCAA Tournament each season, including quarterfinal appearances in 2010 and 2013. North Carolina claimed the ACC title in 2013, the program's first championship in 17 years, earning Myers a promotion to the Associate Head Coach role for the 2014 season. UNC held the No. 1 ranking in three different polls at the end of the 2013 campaign, the school's first top billing in two decades.


As North Carolina's offensive coordinator, Myers coached two Atlantic Coast Conference Players of the Year (Billy Bitter in 2010, Marcus Holman in 2013) and two ACC Rookies of the Year (Holman in 2010, Nick Galasso in 2011). During his time in Chapel Hill, Myers saw four offensive players earn All-America honors (Jimmy Bitter, Ryan Creighton, Joey Sankey, Chad Tutton) on three separate occasions. UNC was fourth in the nation in scoring in 2013 (13.5 gpg) and 2014 (13.0 gpg).


As UNC's recruiting coordinator, Myers oversaw the signing of two classes that were ranked No. 1 by Inside Lacrosse (2010 and 2012), and a third class in 2011 that was ranked No. 2. His 2010 and 2012 recruiting classes included eight Under Armour All-Americans each.


Before arriving at North Carolina, Myers earned Patriot League experience while serving as an coach assistant at Bucknell University from 2006-08. The Bison went 10-5 and were ranked as high as No. 9 in the nation during the 2008 season following a 2007 campaign during which the Bison were 11-4 and peaked at No. 11. In Myers' first year in Lewisburg, the Bison knocked off No. 1 Maryland to become the first Bucknell team in any sport to defeat a top-ranked team.


His first full-time assistant coaching gig came at Cornell in 2005. That season the Big Red won the Ivy League title with an 11-3 record, advanced to the NCAA quarterfinal round and were ranked as high as No. 3.


Myers' coaching career started in 2004 as a volunteer assistant coach at Ohio State. The Buckeyes were 12-4, captured the Great Western Lacrosse League (GWLL) title and held a No. 6 national ranking on their way to the NCAA Champion first-round appearance. From 2002-03, Myers' brother, Nick, was a volunteer assistant coach at Ohio State where he has been the head coach since 2008.


Myers graduated from Ohio State in 2003. He was the GWLL Rookie of the Year in 2000, a two-time All-GWLL selection and a three-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree. Following graduation, he played professionally for four seasons with the Boston Cannons of Major League Lacrosse.


A native of Kennebunk, Maine, Myers and his wife, Lauren, have two daughters, Ava and Mackenzie.

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