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Kelsey Van Alstyne
Kelsey Van Alstyne enters her fourth season as Cortland's women's lacrosse head coach in 2025. She has a combined record of 46-15 (.754) over three seasons with two league titles and three NCAA Division III tournament appearances.
In her inaugural season with the Red Dragons in 2022, Van Alstyne and her assistants were named the SUNYAC Coaching Staff of the Year after leading the program to a 17-5 record and both the SUNYAC regular-season and tournament titles. Cortland won two NCAA Division III playoff games and tied for ninth place nationally. The Red Dragons featured a first team All-American along with four all-region and eight All-SUNYAC selections.
In 2023, Van Alystyne's squad posted a 14-5 record. The Red Dragons won the SUNYAC regular-season title, finished second in the SUNYAC tournament and earned an NCAA tournament at-large berth and a bye into the second round. The team featured four all-region and six All-SUNYAC selections, including the league's Rookie of the Year.
In 2024, Cortland finished 15-5 and won both the SUNYAC tournament and regular-season titles, along with an NCAA first-round game to tie for 17th nationally. Three Red Dragons earned All-America honors, four were named to the IWLCA all-region team and eight were chosen to the All-SUNYAC team, including the league's Attack Player of the Year and Goalie of the Year.
Van Alstyne previously served as head coach at Division II Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania for four seasons from 2018-21. The winningest coach in program history, she guided The Rock to a combined 27-24 record, including a program-best 13-5 mark and a berth into the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) tournament in 2018 for the school’s second playoff showing in nearly 30 years.
Van Alstyne coached nine All-PSAC players, including the 2018 conference Player of the Year, along with six all-region and one All-America honoree. Her 2021 squad boasted a cumulative 3.53 grade point average. Under her guidance, Slippery Rock finished 2018 leading the nation in ground balls per game (29.06) while also ranking third in caused turnovers per game (14.78), third in save percentage (.535), 11th in goals allowed per game (8.78) and 22nd in win percentage (.722).
Prior to her tenure at Slippery Rock, Van Alstyne was the head coach at Morrisville State three years from 2015-17. She led the Mustangs to North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) titles and NCAA playoff appearances in 2015 and 2017, while never posted a losing record. She was selected as the 2017 NEAC Co-Coach of the Year and she coached 20 All-NEAC selections, including the 2015 Player and Rookie of the Year and the 2016 and 2017 Defensive Player of the Year.
A native of Burnt Hills, N.Y., Van Alstyne also served as interim head coach at Buffalo State in 2014 after being an assistant coach the previous year. She led the Bengals to an 8-7 record, including a win over 16th-ranked Brockport as part of a schedule that featured six national top-20 teams. Van Alstyne also served as an assistant coach for one season at Ithaca College and one year as a strength and conditioning intern at Cornell University. During her season at Ithaca, the Bombers finished 7-0 in league play and the coaching staff was named the Empire 8 Women’s Lacrosse Staff of the Year.
Van Alstyne, whose maiden name is Kelsey Schwan, graduated from Bloomsburg University in Pennsylvania in 2011 with a degree in exercise science and earned a master’s degree in sport management from Cortland in 2014. Her collegiate athletic career began at West Chester University, where she played volleyball for one season and earned PSAC Scholar-Athlete honors. She transferred to Bloomsburg following her freshman year and played three years of lacrosse for the Huskies, serving two seasons as captain and earning Scholar-Athlete honors in each of those years.
In addition to her collegiate coaching experience, Van Alstyne also has coached USA teams in International competition in Australia, Germany and the U.K. and has worked at various camps, including the Nike Cup.
Van Alstyne and her husband, Chris, have a daughter, Adelynn, and a son, Odin. Chris, who is currently an assistant strength and conditioning coach at Cornell University, is a 2013 Cortland graduate and was a member of the Red Dragon football team during the 2011 and 2012 seasons. In addition, Van Alstyne's uncle, Pete Schwan, was a wide receiver for the Red Dragons from 1978-81 and her brother, Ian, was a tight end on the team in 2010.
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