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Laura Maness
Head coach Laura Maness will enter her eighth season leading the Owls during the 2024 season.
During her first seven seasons at the helm, Maness has elevated Kennesaw State women’s lacrosse to its best seven-year stretch in program history.
In her first season as head coach for the Owls, she made an immediate impact leading the team to record-breaking win totals overall and in the ASUN. After a huge comeback against Furman in the final game of the regular season, the Owls finished the season 8-9 overall and 4-6 in the ASUN. The team averaged 14.53 goals per game, which ended up being the 15th best mark in the country. Two players totaled over 60 points with Haley Swift leading the way with 66 points. The Owls also made jumps statistically in ground balls and draw controls as KSU was named the statistical national champion in ground balls after the 2017 season averaging 24.65 per game. They were 10th in the country in draw controls winning 15.29 per game. The back line was led by Maura Palandro, who became the first Kennesaw State defensive player to be named ASUN First Team All-Conference.
In 2018, she led them to a three seed in the ASUN after defeating Old Dominion, Howard and Stetson. The three seed is the highest ever ASUN ranking for the Owls. KSU’s offense was fueled by ASUN Freshman of the Year Siena Gore as she set an ASUN record with 70 goals during the season on her way to being unanimously voted ASUN First Team All-Conference.
After a hard fought start to the 2019 campaign, the Owls closed out the back half of the season with a 6-3 record, including a 15-6 victory over Stetson in their final home game of the season to clinch their second straight ASUN Tournament appearance. KSU finished the year among the nation’s top-10 for free position percentage (4th) and shot percentage (7th) shooting 51.5 percent from the eight-meter arc and 48.5 percent from the field. The Owls also ranked 12th in the NCAA averaging 15.78 draw controls per game. She tied the KSU wins record she set in 2017, finishing 8-10 overall.
In 2020, Maness led the Owls to a 3-4 record before the season was canceled. KSU achieved 93 goals, 111 draw controls and .355 save percentage in the net in 7 games.
In her fifth season (2021), she led the team to its third consecutive ASUN Tournament Berth with the number three seed. The Owls finished the season 5-10 overall, which included a 25-3 rout of Howard to end the regular season. Her team had a record high four freshman named to the ASUN Conference All-Freshman Team.
The 2022 season, was the most successful season in Kennesaw State history. Maness guided KSU to a record breaking season as the Owls entered the ASUN Semifinals with the new school record for most wins (11), which was also the team's first-ever winning season. Within the season's list of victories is the Owls first-ever victory over a Power Five school, the Oregon Ducks (14-13). The Owls finished the regular season with the most goals scored in program history, 249 goals.
This past 2023 season, the Owls finished 4-13, clinching a 15-14 win against Lindenwood in the last home game of the season. The team finished in the sixth seed in the ASUN. The team earned 10 ASUN conference honors this season.
During her tenure, Maness has coached 14 all-conference selections, including eight first team honorees to mark the first in program history. She has also overseen KSU’s first ASUN Player of the Year in Siena Gore following the 2019 campaign. Over the past six seasons, the Owls have racked up 11 all-freshman awards, 12 all-academic team selections, a 2021 Scholar-Athlete of the year honoree in Marissa Gore, 13 conference player of the week nods, and a 2018 Freshman of the Year honoree, 2022 ASUN Player of the Year, and 2022 Scholar Athlete of the Year in Siena Gore. Gore was the first player in program history to be named CoSIDA Academic All-American (First Team).
A coaching veteran who brings more than a decade of experience, Maness was named Kennesaw State’s head lacrosse coach on July 1, 2016.
She joined the Owls after spending the previous five seasons at University of Detroit Mercy. She led the Titans to four straight Atlantic Sun Tournament Championship game appearances and became the winningest coach in program history.
Maness brings 11 years of experience as a head coach to Kennesaw State after leading programs across all three divisions at Detroit (2012-2016), Lake Erie College (2009-11) and Waynesburg University (2006-08).
Kennesaw State began its fifth season as a program in 2017 and Maness is no stranger to upstart programs. She was the inaugural coach at both Lake Erie College and Waynesburg University while taking over at Detroit after its third season.
In her five years at Detroit, she coached one ASUN Player of the Year, one Defensive Player of the Year, one Freshman of the Year, 12 first-team All-ASUN selections, nine second-team All-ASUN selections and mentored the Scholar Athlete of the Year the past two seasons. The IWLCA honored the Titans as an All-Academic Squad each season.
Each season with Maness at the helm, the Titans improved. The team finished above .500 in each of the last two seasons, including a school-record 12-win season in 2016. The 2016 campaign also saw Detroit become the first-ever ASUN school to knock off Jacksonville en route to the program’s fourth straight appearance in the ASUN championship game.
Before coaching at Detroit, Maness was the inaugural coach for Lake Erie College at the Division II level. After 18 months of preparation, she led the Storm to a 7-7 record in its first season. Lake Erie was named an All-Merit squad and an All-Academic squad.
Maness began her coaching career at Morgantown High School while attending West Virginia University. She began as an assistant at Morgantown High in 2002 and was promoted to head coach in 2004. The team won four state championships during her tenure. Maness also served on the coaching staff for the Midwestern Force club lacrosse team during the summer.
In 2006, Maness was the head coach at Division III Wayneburg State in Pennsylvania where she guided that program in its first two years of existence.
Maness earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Human Nutrition and Food Science at West Virginia. During her time at Waynesburg, she earned a Master’s of Business Administration in 2008.
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