Stanford University

Stanford University Dept of Athletics
Arrillaga Family Sports Ctr 641 E Campus Dr Stanford, CA 94305

Division 1 California Southwest

Private Medium National competitor

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Coaches

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Danielle Spencer

Danielle Spencer was named head coach of Stanford women's lacrosse on June 12, 2019. She is the seventh head coach in program history.

Spencer, who served as an assistant at Stanford in 2012, returns to The Farm after she turned around the Dartmouth program in just three years and earned Ivy League Coach of the Year honors in each of her final two seasons. Spencer inherited a program coming off three consecutive losing campaigns, but the Big Green won 11 games in her second year and captured an Ivy League regular season title in her third season.

In 2019, Spencer guided Dartmouth to its first Ivy title since 2011, tying Princeton for the top spot in the conference standings. The Big Green earned an at-large berth into the NCAA Tournament, a first for the program since 2013.

Along the way, Spencer's 2019 team established several program and Ivy League records. The 272 goals and 401 total points both set new program standards, while the 312 draw controls set a new Ivy standard and eclipsed the old mark by more than 50.

Spencer's second season was a resurgence for the Big Green as the team returned to the postseason for the first time since 2013 and finished the year 11-5. For her part in guiding the team back to the Ivy League Tournament and maintaining a spot in the nation's top-20 most of the season, Spencer was named the Ivy League Co-Head Coach of the Year.

In three years under her guidance in Hanover, six Dartmouth players received First Team All-Ivy honors as the Big Green finished 29-19 (.604) overall and 13-8 (.619) in conference play.

Prior to Dartmouth, Spencer spent four seasons as an assistant coach at her alma mater, Northwestern, and one year on the sidelines at Stanford.

During her coaching stint in Evanston, Spencer helped Northwestern to four NCAA Tournament appearances and a pair of berths in the Final Four (2013, 2014). The Wildcats also won a conference title in 2013 and finished in the top 10 of the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) poll in all four seasons.

As the recruiting coordinator, Spencer was responsible for continuing to bring top players into the program, including the group in 2014 that was ranked as the best recruiting class in the nation.

A four-year standout at Northwestern from 2006-10, Spencer was a part of three national championship teams (2007, 2008, 2009) and one national runner-up (2010) during her outstanding playing career.

Spencer finished her four seasons with the Wildcats having played in 83 games, making 65 starts. Her career totals ranked among the best in Northwestern's storied history as she finished with 193 goals (7th), 238 points (8th) and 203 draw controls (3rd). The 110 draw controls as a senior was the third-most by a collegiate player in NCAA history at the time.

A three-time all-conference player, she earned first-team recognition as both a junior and senior, while being honored on the second team during her sophomore campaign. As a player, Spencer was a two-time All-American, nabbing first-team honors as a senior in 2010, a year after claiming second-team recognition. As a senior, Spencer also earned All-America honors from WomensLacrosse.com and WomensLax.com.

Most recently, Spencer played with the Boston Storm of the United Women's Lacrosse League (UWLX) during the first season for both the team and league. Spencer and her teammates finished as the league runner-up, falling in the championship game. In 2018, she played for Upstate Pride of the Women's Professional Lacrosse League (WPLL). She was tied for third in the league, averaging 4.0 goals per game, while also leading the league with 8.0 draw controls per contest.

In October 2018, the Brighton, New York, native was named a member of the US Lacrosse Greater Rochester Hall of Fame Induction Class of 2018.

Spencer graduated from Northwestern in 2010 with a degree in social policy.

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Nicole Flores

Nicole Flores enters her first season at Stanford in 2019-20, and serves as the defensive coordinator and recruiting coordinator for the Cardinal.

Flores came to The Farm after two seasons as an assistant under head coach Danielle Spencer at Dartmouth. While with the Big Green, Flores was part of a lacrosse revival in Hanover.

In her first season with the team, the Big Green went 11-5 and made the Ivy League Tournament for the first time in five seasons, and the following year, she helped guide Dartmouth to an Ivy League title and its first NCAA Tournament appearance in six years.

Prior to her stint with the Big Green, she was a member of the coaching staff at Trinity. In her one season, the Bantams reached the Division III national semifinals.

The Branford, Connecticut, native’s time at Trinity followed a stint at Bowdoin College, where she worked from 2014-16. During her time with the Polar Bears, she was part of a staff that helped lead the program to the 2015 New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) Championship Game as well as to the NCAA Division III Sweet 16.

Previous coaching experience also came from time at Union (2011-14) and Eastern Connecticut (2009-11) following the completion of her collegiate playing career at Springfield in 2009. While a student-athlete with the Pride, she was a first-team all-conference player and team captain as a senior.

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Megan Whittle

One of the most prolific scorers in NCAA history, Megan Whittle enters her first season at Stanford in 2019-20 and serves as the offensive coordinator.

Whittle began her coaching career in 2019 when she joined Danielle Spencer's staff at Dartmouth. In one year in Hanover, Whittle helped lead the Big Green to an Ivy League title and the program's first NCAA Tournament berth in six years.

A 2018 graduate of the University of Maryland, Whittle capped one of the most impressive careers in the history of women’s collegiate lacrosse in 2018. The Glenwood, Maryland, native has a laundry list of individual accolades longer than many Division I programs have compiled in their history.

The Terps’ all-time leading goal scorer, Whittle finished with 298 career goals, good for second most in NCAA history. A three-time All-American, she helped lead her team to a pair of national championships as a freshman and junior in 2015 and 2017, respectively.

A team captain as a senior, Whittle led the Terps back to the Final Four for the fourth time in her career, while posting career highs with 84 goals and 99 points. In 90 games over four seasons, she amassed 339 career points in addition to her nearly 300 goals, both figures that rank near the top of the NCAA all-time record books.

During her career, Maryland won four Big Ten regular season championships and three conference postseason titles en route to an 86-4 record. For her efforts, she was twice named the Big Ten Attacker of the Year (2016 and 2018) and was an all-conference player all four seasons in College Park.

Whittle also has seen action on the international stage, playing for the English National Team since 2016 and competing in the 2017 World Cup, where she earned a bronze medal.