Old Dominion University

Old Dominion University I/C Athletics
Jim Jarrett Athletic Administration Building Norfolk, VA 23529

Division 1 Virginia Northeast

Public Large National competitor

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Coaches

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Theresa Walton

Theresa Walton enters her second season as lacrosse head coach at Old Dominion.

In Walton's first season as the Monarchs head coach she led the team to a 4-13 record. Her first with for ODU came in the opening game when they defeated Elon 12-11, that opening day win was the first for Old Dominion since 2018. Walton had one member named to the AAC 2nd team All Conference team which was defender Katie McGrain.

Walton comes to ODU after serving as the head coach at Youngstown State. She led the Penguins from inception to conference champions in just two years of existence. In just her second season as a Division I head coach she was named the Mid-American Conference Coach of the Year.

In 2022, YSU won a share of the Mid-American Conference title with an 8-2 league mark. In the middle of the standings as April began, the Penguins got on a roll winning their final five contests to tie Robert Morris and Central Michigan atop the MAC standings. In its final five regular-season games, the Penguins won four road contests, including wins at CMU and RMU for the program's first win against those two-MAC powers. At Robert Morris on the final day of the regular-season, the Penguins rallied from a four-goal deficit to stun the Colonials. YSU was picked to finish fifth in the six-team conference in the preseason polls.

Freshman Natalie Calandra-Ryan led a major offensive turnaround as she was named the MAC's Freshman of the Year. Calandra-Ryan scored a conference record 68 goals in earning first-team league accolades. Aryss Lindsey joined Calandra-Ryan on the first team while Savannah Clarke, Erin Clark and Ali Korin were second-team All-MAC selections. Korin added 54 goals while Clark had 36 goals and 36 assists during the year. Clarke was stellar in goal averaging 9.3 saves per game and a .429 save percentage.

The program's first year was in the spring of 2021. With COVID-19 restrictions, the Penguins played conference games only. YSU picked up the first program win in school history beating Detroit Mercy and knocked off Kent State as well.

Walton, a native of Syracuse, N.Y., is familiar with the Mid-Atlantic region after spending two seasons at VCU focusing on the defensive unit, goalkeepers and was as recruiting coordinator for Head Coach Jen O'Brien at VCU before taking over the YSU program. The Rams posted seven victories in each of Walton's two seasons with the school.

In 2019, VCU was 7-11 and went 4-5 in the Atlantic 10 Conference. The Rams' defense caused 187 turnovers in the 18 games.

In 2018, VCU finished the year 7-11 overall with a 5-4 Atlantic 10 record. The team earned their first Atlantic 10 Championship berth by defeating seven-time defending conference champion UMass in the regular season, halting a NCAA record 61-game conference winning streak.

Walton headed a defensive unit that helped propel the team to its first winning record in conference and included the program's first wins over Davidson and UMass. The defense held opponents to single-digit goals four times in 2018, which also featured two overtime wins. The defense forced a school-record 192 turnovers with eight Rams causing at least 10 turnovers for the campaign.

She joined VCU after serving as an assistant coach at the University of Mount Olive. In her first two years at Mount Olive, the Trojans had an overall record of 27-9. In 2015, Walton helped guide Mount Olive to the Conference Carolinas Women's Lacrosse Championship as the team was ranked No. 9 in the year-end Nike/LaxMagazine Division II Women's Lacrosse Top 20 Poll, the highest ranking in program history.

Prior to arriving at Mount Olive, Walton served as an assistant coach at Alma College (Mich.), where she helped the team to a 16-3 mark. Alma posted a record of 7-8 the year prior to her arrival.

Walton earned her bachelor's degree in communications at Canisius College (N.Y.) and helped lead the Griffins to back-to-back Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference women's lacrosse titles, including the first title in school history. Walton earned MAAC All-Tournament honors during Canisius' first title run. She tallied 42 goals and eight assists for 50 points during her career.

She is a graduate of Nottingham High School where she earned Academic All-America and OSHL All-League honors.

"I feel unbelievably grateful to be a part of Old Dominion University and to be at the helm for the Women's Lacrosse Program. I'd like to thank the search committee, Ashley Waters, along with the entire administration for this opportunity to be a part of such a family oriented athletic department," Walton said. "Monarch Nation is an exceptional community, and it feels great to walk around the Norfolk area and campus. The pride, support, and energy around the entire University is evident. I am looking forward to being a contributing member to all things ODU, and I am especially excited to get to work with this current ODU Lacrosse team."

"After speaking with the team, there is already such a great team culture that is ready to get after it and go to work every day. I am looking forward to connecting all Monarchs of current players, future players, and the great alumni base that is out there to rally behind this program and Reign On!," Walton added.

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Meg Clements

Meg Clements enters her second season as lacrosse assistant coach at Old Dominion.

Meg Clements served as the offensive coordinator for the Monarchs in 2023. Offense was a struggle for ODU in 2023, Clements lost three of her top attackers due to injury one being All-Conference Member Lilly Siskind who only played six ga mes but was the third highest scorer on the team to that point. Clements gets Siskind back and her top attackers and looks to combine the tenacious defense that Dobbins has with a top offense in the conference.

Clements spent the last six seasons at Stevens in Hoboken, NJ, where she served as an assistant and then Associate Head Coach. In her time with the Ducks, Clements helped the program advance to three Empire 8 Conference Championships, and two MAC Freedom Championships, taking home the title in 2022. While working with the offense and draw unit, Clements developed multiple All-Conference and All-Region players, three All-Americans and an IWLCA Player of the Year, Kyra Bednarski. She was also part of back-to-back Empire 8 Conference Coaching Staff of the Year.

Prior to her time at Stevens, Clements coached at Notre Dame High School in Lawrence, N.J., where they won both County and Sectional titles. She was also

involved with multiple NJ club programs, serving as a coach and director. After her career at Rutgers, Clements spent a year overseas in England where she both

played and coached lacrosse at Durham University while pursuing a masters degree in marketing. Clements helped the program win its first BUCS (British University and College Sports) National Championship in 2016.

Clements graduated from Rutgers in 2014 and spent four years in the lacrosse program. Clements left the program as the seventh all-time draw control leader with 97

draw controls over her career. Clements was named to the 2014 Big East Preseason Players to Watch list, guided the Knights to a 2014 Big East Playoff berth and was named Second Team All-Big East and All Tournament team.

Clements also shined in the classroom, earning Dean’s List and Big East All-Academic honors all four years.

She is from is from Pennington, N.J., and graduated with a bachelor's degree in communications and a masters degree in marketing.

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Hailey Dobbins

Hailey Dobbins joined the women's lacrosse staff in August 2022.

In 2023 Dobbins served as the defensive coordinator and proved to be a good one. Dobbins had one defender named second team all conference. Dobbins had two defenders rank in the Top 5 in the conference in caused turnovers per game in Katie McGrain and Maria Rekus who she will have back in defense in 2024. McGrain also ranked third in ground balls per game in the conference.

Dobbins heads to ODU after serving as an assistant coach at American University, in Washington, D.C., where she helped guide the team to one of its most successful seasons in program history, tying the program record for regular season wins at 9-9 and returning to the Patriot League Tournament for the first time since 2013. She also helped mentor graduate student Emma Vinall in her final season at American. Vinall will go down in program history as the most successful player to ever come through AU lacrosse, earning the program's first All-American honor in 2020 and breaking eight program records including career points, goals, and draw controls.

Dobbins started in the college coaching ranks after a successful playing career at the Division II and III levels. She was an NCAA All-Tournament team member after helping lead Lindenwood to a DII National Championship in 2021. She was also named to the GLVC All-Conference First Team, earned her second career IWLCA All-American honor. In 2018, with SUNY Cortland, she led the red dragons to their 20th straight SUNYAC Conference Title while garnering tournament MVP. She was named SUNYAC Defensive POTY and an IWLCA First Team All-American for her efforts. In 2017, she took home the Conference Carolinas Defensive POTY and her first of three IWLCA All-Region honors. The Syracuse, N.Y. native still has her name in the NCAA DII record books, ranking in the all-time top-5 in career single-season caused turnovers (62) and single-season caused turnovers per game (3.44).

She got her start in coaching at the club level as the head girl's lacrosse coach for Lou Fusz Lacrosse and Outlaws Lacrosse, and was a counselor for X10 Lacrosse. She graduated with her B.S. in business economics from SUNY Cortland in 2019 and earned her MBA-marketing from Lindenwood in 2021.