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Susan Stuart
Few people can match the impact that Susan Stuart has made on the sport of women’s lacrosse as a player, coach and administrator.
Under Stuart’s guidance, Colorado College has been one of the most successful Division III programs in the country, as well as the standard-bearer for teams from the West Region. During her 30-season tenure as the only coach in program history, the Tigers posted a 313-151-1 record and earned 12 appearances in the NCAA Division III Women’s Lacrosse Championship.
At the Division III level, Stuart ranks sixth among active coaches with five or more seasons with 313 career victories and 22nd with a .682 winning percentage. All-time, for coaches 10 or more years, she is 12th in total wins and tied for 22nd in winning percentage. Across all NCAA Divisions, Stuart ranks 18th among active coaches and 23rd in all-time victories.
CC, which owns a 13-12 all-time postseason record, advanced to the national semifinals in 2005 after defeating a pair of nationally-ranked opponents – Union College and SUNY Cortland – at the regional level. Colorado College is still the only program from the West to advance to the final four.
The Tigers also posted the biggest comeback in the tournament's history in 2007 when they overcame a 9-0 deficit to defeat No. 18 Nazareth College, 12-11, in triple overtime in a regional semifinal at Salisbury University.
In 2019, Stuart was named West Region Coach of the Year by the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association for the seventh time after guiding the Tigers to an 18-2 record and the No. 1 ranking in the West Region by the NCAA.
CC began that season with a school-record 15-game winning streak, which included victories over the other five regionally-ranked teams in the West. The Tigers prevailed in road contests at No. 3 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, No. 4 Pomona-Pitzer Colleges, No. 5 Occidental College and No. 6 Hamline University. They also defeated No. 2 Illinois Wesleyan University at home.
The Tigers finished the 2019 campaign ranked No. 17 in the final IWLCA Division III Coaches Poll, which was the highest among the teams that did not advance to a regional final of the NCAA championship.
Last season, CC advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019 and made it to the Sweet 16 by defeating Aurora University, 18-2, and the University of Chicago, 20-14, before falling to eventual national champion Middlebury College, 20-9.
Under Stuart’s expert tutelage, Colorado College has produced 14 IWLCA All-Americans, the most recent of which was two-time recipient Kendall Havill and Devon Ortman in 2024. The Tigers also have a combined 45 all-region selections since 2009, which is the first year of the IWLCA archives.
CC’s demanding admission requirements and rigorous academic standards present their own challenges, but Stuart embraces coaching at one of the top liberal arts colleges in the country. Her formula for success includes recruiting student-athletes whose priority is a world-class liberal arts education and developing athletes into highly-skilled lacrosse players.
After the 2019 season, the IWLCA named the Tigers a Zag Sports Academic Honor Squad for the ninth year in a row as well as the 14th time since the award was first given out in 2004. The Tigers also are regular recipients of organization's top individual award, a spot on the IWLCA's Academic Honor Roll.
Stuart’s contributions to women’s lacrosse extend far beyond the walls of Colorado College.
In 2019, she began a three-year term as a Division III representative on the IWLCA Board of Directors. The seven-time West Region Coach of the Year also has served on the organization’s All-America Committee and the NCAA West Region Committee.
Stuart also has worked tirelessly to promote the growth of the sport, particularly in the West Region. Her willingness to play fledgling programs from Division III conferences such as the Northwest Conference and the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, as well those from the Division II Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, has helped the sport expand and directly led to increased opportunities for student-athletes to compete at the collegiate level.
Before beginning her coaching career as an assistant at Roanoke College, Penn State University and James Madison University, Stuart was an All-American goaltender at William Smith College, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in English and Religious Studies in 1989.
Stuart continued her competitive career as Team Canada’s starting goalie for two World Cups, in Edogawa, Japan (1997) and High Wycombe, England (2001). She also was a member of the United States women's national team from 1989 through 1995, a period that saw her compete on tour against Canada in 1990, England in 1991 and Wales in 1995.
Most recently, Stuart served as an assistant coach and helped guide Team Canada to a silver medal at the 2013 World Cup in Oshawa, Ontario.
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