Tufts University

Medford, MA 02155

Massachusetts Northeast

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Courtney Shute

After leading Tufts Women’s Lacrosse to two straight NESCAC titles and back-to-back NCAA Championship Game appearances in 2021 and 2022, Courtney Shute is now in her 10th season leading the Jumbos.

Last year, Coach Shute's Jumbos advanced to the NCAA Championship Game for the second year in a row. Tufts finished 19-4 overall including a 9-8 NESCAC Championship Game victory over Middlebury College.

in 2021, Shute was selected as IWLCA Pilgrim Region and NESCAC Coach of the Year. Guiding Tufts to great success in a year of uncertainty caused by the pandemic, she led the Jumbos to the program's first-ever NESCAC title and into their first-ever NCAA Championship Game.

Coach Shute's 2021 and 2022 Tufts rosters included players who earned nine IWLCA All-American honors, three IWLCA National Positional Player of the Year awards and three NESCAC Player of the Year recognitions.

Prior to the 2020 season getting canceled after just three games, Coach Shute's team had an historic 2019 season in which they finished with a 19-3 record, three more victories than any Jumbo team has had previously. Tufts was one of four NCAA Regional hosts in the nation and advanced to the Final Four. The 2019 team featured four All-Americans recruited to Tufts by Coach Shute and her staff, including IWLCA National Player of the Year Dakota Adamec. Tufts swept the major NESCAC Awards that year, with Shute receiving Coach of the Year, Adamec winning Player of the Year for the second straight season and Hedy Veith named Defensive Player of the Year.

Coach Shute, who has guided the Jumbos to a .729 winning percentage with a 105-39 record since the 2014 season, has led five Tufts teams to NCAA berths overall. The 2018 team finished 13-5, which at the time was the most wins the program had seen since 2009. They also made it to the second round of the NCAA Championship for the first time since 2015 that year. The Jumbos advanced to the NCAA Round of 16 in 2015 when they won a second-round game aweret Messiah 14-7.

Tufts is also consistently one of the top academic teams in the nation under Coach Shute's guidance. In 2021, Jumbo Catherine Lawliss was voted to the Academic All-America® Women's At-Large Team, announced by CoSIDA. For the 2022 season, 21 team members were on the NESCAC All-Academic Team for carrying grade point averages of 3.50 or better. They are also committed to community service. The team took part in the Headstrong Foundation’s “Last Shift Virtual 5K Challenge” to support cancer patients who were among those at highest risk of suffering from COVID-19. The team is also involved with Team IMPACT, the non-profit organization which works to improve the quality of life for children facing life-threatening and chronic illnesses by pairing them with collegiate athletic teams.

Shute had previously been part of the SUNY Cortland coaching staff from 2010-13, and was promoted to Associate Head Coach in fall 2012. During her tenure, the Red Dragons played in three consecutive NCAA "Final Fours" from 2011-2013. They compiled an outstanding 62-6 overall record during Shute's three seasons for a .912 winning percentage. She also earned a Master's of Science degree in sports management while at Cortland.

The all-time leading scorer in Cornell University history, Coach Shute was inducted into the Cornell University Athletics Hall of Fame in 2018. She played for the Big Red from 2005-08 and led the team in scoring for each of her four seasons to finish with 213 career points on 122 goals and 91 assists. She was an IWLCA All-American, a four-time All-Ivy pick, and three times an All-Region honoree.

Shute is a 2008 graduate of Cornell, where she earned a bachelor's degree in applied economics and management. She immediately went into coaching, serving as an assistant at Division I American University for the 2009 season. She was then an assistant for the 2010 Ivy League runners-up at Dartmouth College.

A member of the United States Development Team from 2006-08, Shute founded and directs teamthirteen, a women's lacrosse specialty company which focuses on the development of fundamental skills and teamwork in girls and young women. She also spends summers working the top college recruiting showcases and instructional camps.

Shute became the sixth head coach of Jumbo Women's Lacrosse since the program was founded in 1975. Originally from Fayetteville, New York, she is a 2004 graduate of Fayetteville-Manlius High School. Courtney is married to Sarah Shute, who is Head Field Hockey Coach at MIT. They have a son Bodhi and reside in Waltham.

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Hedy Veith

Tufts All-American Hedy Veith joins the Jumbo coaching staff for the 2020-21 season.

Veith was a four-year starter for Coach Shute’s Tufts teams from 2016-19. She was a two-time IWLCA All-American for the Jumbos, earning first team honors in 2019 and third-team recognition in 2018. During the 2019 team’s “Final Four” season, Veith repeated as an IWLCA Pilgrim Region first team selection and was the NESCAC Defensive Player of the Year and an All-Conference first team selection. She led the team with 39 ground balls and 21 caused turnovers.

A three-time NESCAC All-Academic Team selection, Veith graduated from Tufts in 2019 with a degree in economics and community health. She also earned IWLCA Academic Honor Roll accolades as a player.

Originally from Alexandria, Virginia, Veith was on the lacrosse and field hockey teams at St. Stephen's & St. Agnes School.

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Casey D'Annolfo

In his seventh season now, the Mike Daly Head Coach of Men's Lacrosse Casey D'Annolfo has guided the Jumbos to a .854 winning percentage (82-14) and four NESCAC championships.

CaseyDAnnolfoBioLast season, Tufts finished 19-3 and won its 11th New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) title overall. The Jumbos advanced to the NCAA Tournament Final Four. In the 2021 COVID season Tufts also won NESCAC's and played into the NCAA Final Four before finishing the season with a 9-1 record. The 2021 schedule included a 15-9 win at Division I Dartmouth.

In 2018 and 2019, Tufts won back-to-back NESCAC championships while combining for a 37-4 record under Coach D’Annolfo’s guidance. The team won 18 of 20 NESCAC games during those two seasons and finished first in the competitive conference for 2019. In his first year with the team in 2017, Coach D'Annolfo guided the Jumbos to a school-record 11 straight wins to open the season.

In 2020, D’Annolfo’s Jumbos were looking like a team that would challenge for the national championship when hopes were dashed due to COVID-19. Tufts won its four games by a combined total of 100–42, including a 25–15 win over rival Amherst. Tufts’ 25 goals per game average led Division III for the abbreviated season. The Jumbos were ranked #2 in the final USILA national poll of the year.

A 2006 Tufts graduate, Coach D’Annolfo has led the Jumbos to wins in its 69 of their last 75 games dating back to the start of the 2018 season. All of his teams have earned NCAA berths, with the 2018 and 2019 squads advancing to the national quarterfinals. The NCAA Tournament was not played in 2020.

Tufts players have received a total of 47 All-American honors during Coach D'Annolfo's six seasons. The eight Jumbos selected as USILA All-Americans for the 2022 season included Mac Bredahl - recruited to the Jumbos by Coach D’Annolfo and his staff - who became the program's all-time leading scorer. Among other outstanding players recruited to Tufts during D'Annolfo's era is Max Waldbaum, currently finishing out his eligibility at Division I Jacksonville University where he scored 48 goals and 24 assists for 72 points in 17 games last year.

Lacrosse student-athletes also achieve academically within Coach D’Annolfo’s program. Five achieved USILA Scholar All-American accolades for 2022 and 10 team members were on the NESCAC All-Academic Team with grade point averages of 3.50 or better. Frank Hattler, a 2018 Tufts graduate, earned Google Cloud Academic All-America® recognition.

Among the community service activities Coach D’Annolfo and the team support is Bronx Lacrosse, a full-day, year-round academic and sports-based youth development program founded by Tufts alumnus Dan Leventhal that empowers youth on the field and in the classroom.

D'Annolfo, who replaced Mike Daly as the Jumbos' head coach, previously had revitalized the men's lacrosse program at the Taft School during nine seasons as head coach. When he was hired at Taft in 2007, the Rhinos were at the bottom of the Founders League. Playing in one of the most competitive lacrosse conferences in the nation, Taft won the Founders League championship under D'Annolfo's guidance in 2016. The team was #18 in USA Today's rankings for the spring 2016 and also broke the school record for goals in a season that year.

From West Hartford, Connecticut originally, D'Annolfo was a three-sport letterman in football, lacrosse, and basketball at Tufts from 2002-06. He played quarterback for the Jumbos and was a four-year contributor in lacrosse. He is believed to be the only athlete in Jumbo history to throw a touchdown pass in football, score a goal in lacrosse, and make a field goal in basketball during his Tufts career.

D'Annolfo has coached at the prestigious Under Armour All-America Lacrosse Games since 2012. He kept his connection to Tufts over the years by working at the Jumbo Lacrosse Clinic starting in 2010.