Wofford College

Wofford College Athletics
429 North Church Street Spartanburg, SC 29303

Division 1 South Carolina Southeast

Private Small National competitor

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Coaches

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Jessie Aguglia

Wofford College announced on August 19, 2022, the hiring of Jessie Aguglia as head coach of the women’s lacrosse program. Aguglia spent the previous four seasons as head coach at Gardner-Webb University where she was the winningest coach in school history.

In her first season with the Terriers in 2023, the team set a school record for wins with seven. They also set new marks in goals scored (181), draw controls (261) and caused turnovers (132) in a season. Leah Hurley earned All-Big South second team honors at the conclusion of the season.

The 2022 season saw the Runnin’ Bulldogs win their first conference tournament game with a 15-14 triumph at #4 Campbell on April 30 in the first round. The season also saw the team set a new single-season record for wins (10) and have their best regular season finish coming in at fifth in the Big South.

After joining the Runnin’ Bulldogs as an assistant coach in 2017, Aguglia served as interim head coach at Gardner-Webb during the 2018-2019 academic year and took over as head coach following the season. Gardner-Webb experienced a boost under Aguglia, holding the three highest single-season win marks in 2019 (6), 2020 (6), 2022 (10). She holds the lone winning records in the program’s history guiding GWU to a 6-3 record in 2020 and 10-9 in 2022.

Aguglia mentored three All-Big South Conference second-team selections in 2019. In 2021, Aguglia helped guide Talen Francis to a spot on the All-Big South Conference first-team, the first to receive that honor in school history. Heather Lobas also earned a selection on the All-Conference Team.

In 2022, she landed four players on the All-Big South Conference Teams, tied for the most in school history. Maddie Martin and Jada Preston each received a spot on the first team while Lobas and Danielle Burke earned a place on the second team.

Before Gardner-Webb, she served as an assistant coach in 2016 for NCAA Division II UVA-Wise. The Cavaliers posted an 11-5 overall record and a 4-2 mark in Mountain East play. Prior to her arrival at UVA-Wise, Aguglia served as the head varsity coach at Boiling Springs High School in Boiling Springs, S.C. during their inaugural season.

Aguglia spent her collegiate career at Limestone College, where she helped the Saints to four consecutive Conference Carolinas Tournament championships, four NCAA Tournament appearances, and two berths in the national championship game in 2011 and 2013.

The Webster, N.Y., native made 77 appearances over the course of her four-year career, totaling 66 goals, 11 assists, and 77 points. She also tallied 106 ground balls, 52 draw controls and caused 36 turnovers. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in history from Limestone in 2013 and earned a master’s degree at Gardner-Webb in 2022.

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Eilish Gately

Eilish Gately joined the women's lacrosse coaching staff in January of 2024. Gately previously played at Gardner-Webb.

In her five seasons at Gardner-Webb, Gately set a school record with 75 games played and 73 games started. The 2022 season saw the Runnin’ Bulldogs win their first conference tournament game. The team set a new single-season record for wins (10) and had their best regular season finish coming in at fifth in the Big South. Individually, Gately was second on the team in goals scored with 39 and was third in points with 54.

She started all 14 games in 2021, finishing the season with 27 goals scored to rank second on the team. She was also third on the team in goals with 16 in the shortened 2020 season. In 2019, Gately scored 18 goals in 16 games and she added 21 goals during her freshman season in 2018.

Gately graduated from Gardner-Webb in 2021 with a bachelor of science degree in accountancy and added a Master of Business Administration degree in 2022. Prior to joining the Terriers, she worked with Himmelrich Associates, a Baltimore-based real estate firm focused on adapting industrial properties for commercial uses.

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Grace Briggs

Grace Briggs joined the women's lacrosse coaching staff in the summer of 2024. Briggs previously played at Gardner-Webb and Wingate.

In her four seasons at Gardner-Webb, Briggs played in 50 career games with 37 starts on defense. During her senior season in 2023, she started all 17 games and had 41 ground balls and a school-record 35 caused turnovers to earn first-team All-Big South honors. In 2022 as a junior, she started 18 of 19 games played and had 18 ground balls and 20 caused turnovers.

She played the 2024 season at Wingate as a graduate student, seeing action in ten games with five starts. The team was 13-5 overall and 9-1 in the SAC with an appearance in the conference tournament championship game.

Briggs, a native of Waterford, Connecticut, graduated from Gardner-Webb in 2023 with a bachelor of science degree in business management. She earned a master of arts in sports management from Wingate in August of 2024.