Paul Named IWLCA Coach of the Year

LANCASTER, Pa. – Franklin & Marshall College’s women’s lacrosse head coach, Lauren Paul ’03, was named the Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association’s (IWLCA) Coach of the Year in NCAA Division III.

In her first season as a head coach, Paul guided the Diplomats to the 2009 NCAA Division III National Championship with an 11-10 win over Salisbury University. The victory capped a 21-1 season and a championship season in which F&M avenged its last two losses – the 2008 championship game loss to Hamilton, and the regular season loss to Salisbury that snapped the Diplomats’ 35-game home winning streak. Franklin & Marshall ended the season ranked third in scoring defense (7.05 gapg).

Paul is the second F&M alumnae to be named the IWLCA Coach of the Year in the last three years. Anne Phillps ’81 earned the honor after leading the 21-0 Diplomats to the NCAA Championship in 1997. The native of Reisterstown, Md. inherited a difficult and delicate situation in assuming her position at Franklin & Marshall. The talent-laden Diplomats were on the verge of coming unglued following the championship game loss to Hamilton that was almost immediately followed by Phillips’ departure for the head coaching post at Yale.

It didn’t take long for the coach and team to land on the same page.  The squad used the regular season loss to Salisbury as a platform to launch their second season. F&M played the bulk of the game without the IWLCA Attacker of the Year, Jen Pritchard, and hit the post three times in the one goal lost. That defeat restored the team’s confidence that was badly bruised in the 2008 Championship loss.  

The honor is the latest in a long list of awards bestowed upon the Diplomats in the wake of the NCAA Championship. Eight Fummers were named to the IWLCA All-Region Team, six were named All-American, three were selected to the North/South All-Star Game and a pair were named the Players of the Year at their respective positions.