Coaches

Alyssa Shaver

Director of Athletics Jasher Cox selected Alyssa Shaver as the second Lincoln Memorial University women’s lacrosse head coach on October 14, 2020.


Coach Shaver, a former NAIA All-American at Lawrence Technological University (Mich.), comes to LMU after spending the last year as the head coach at Urbana (Ohio).


“I could not be more excited for our student-athletes and our future under Alyssa’s leadership,” Cox stated. “Coach Shaver shares my passion for not only competing for championships, but also serving as a tremendous mentor and role model for our program moving forward.”


During her time at Urbana, Shaver was responsible for creating a lacrosse program from scratch, a task that included designing a budget, recruiting, community outreach with the team, and prospect camps.


“I would like to thank Director of Athletics Jasher Cox and Vice President and Dean, Enrollment and Student Affairs Jody Goins for giving me the opportunity to lead the women’s lacrosse program at Lincoln Memorial University,” Shaver said. “I am honored to be a part of a university that has shown its dedication to student-athletes in and out of the classroom.”


“I am so excited to keep building on the success that the program has had in recent years,” Shaver continued. “This team is full of energetic young women, and I believe they are ready to take the program to the next level.”


Prior to her time at Urbana, Shaver served as the head coach for Lourdes (Ohio) for two seasons. During the 2019 season, the Gray Wolves qualified for the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference postseason tournament after a 2018 season that saw them post the first winning season in program history as they went 8-7.


After the 2019 season, Hannah Merrick and Tiara Reed were named to the All-WHAC second team. Reed, Brianna Budd, Brea Holland, and Ashley Hunt were named to the WHAC All-Academic team while Brandy Lowery was named to the Champions of Character team.


Additionally, Shaver’s program saw Reed named a Google Cloud Academic All-District at-large team member for the NAIA division. Reed and Budd were also named Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athletes for 2019.


The historic 2018 season saw Hannah Cullis selected as an All-WHAC first team performer, while Ashley Hunt, Shelby Kellar, Kiley Ketteman, Alyssa Long, Tiara Reed, and Anna Zofchak were named All-WHAC second team. Cullis, Long, Brianna Budd, and Margaret Janiga were named to the WHAC All-Academic team while Brandy Lowery was selected to the WHAC Champions of Character team.


Before coming to Lourdes, Shaver spent the 2017 season at her alma mater, where she helped guide the team to an 18-2 record, a Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference championship, and an appearance in the NAIA national championship game.


Shaver has extensive experience as a high school and club lacrosse coach, helping multiple athletes to All-American honors, as well as NCAA Division I and II opportunities. In 2015, she turned around the program at Oxford (Mich.) High School, as she took a winless team the year before to 11 victories.


A decorated collegian, Shaver was part of the inaugural women’s lacrosse team at Lawrence Tech in 2014. During her three seasons there, she was named an NAIA All-American (2016), NWLL First Team All-American (2015, 2016) and an NWLL Honorable Mention All-American (2014). After the 2016 season, she was named the NWLL National Offensive Player of the Year. Shaver was named first team All-WHAC all three years, and was an all-academic performer each of those seasons. In 2016, she helped lead the Blue Devils to a WHAC tournament championship and an NAIA national tournament appearance. The team also qualified for the national tournament in 2015.


Shaver also played at NCAA Division I Detroit Mercy, where she was part of the inaugural women’s lacrosse team and was named a conference all-academic performer.


Shaver graduated from Lawrence Technological University in December of 2016 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology.