After Mary Anne Meltzer’s decision to step down earlier this spring, the Lady Titans have a new leader. From the UDM release:
DETROIT – The University of Detroit Mercy is pleased to announce that Laura Maness has been selected as the new head coach of the women’s lacrosse program. Maness most recently served as the head coach at Lake Erie College, and she will become just the second head coach in Titan school history.
“I am very grateful to Keri Gaither, Dr. Antoine Garibaldi, and the administration at UDM for this tremendous opportunity,” Maness said. “There is a tremendous academic and athletic tradition here and I am honored to be a part of it and excited to join the Titan athletic family. I look forward to continuing the development of the women’s lacrosse program into one that not only competes annually for National Lacrosse Conference championships and NCAA postseason appearances, but one that produces high character student-athletes that are great representatives of UDM both on and off the field.”
Maness has started two collegiate programs during her young coaching career. She initiated the first NCAA Division III women’s lacrosse team at Waynesburg University (Penn.) in 2007, and she also implemented the first varsity lacrosse team at Lake Erie College, who competes at the NCAA Division II level.
“We are extremely excited about the hiring of Laura Maness to lead our lacrosse program,” said Assistant Athletic Director Steve Corder. “The search committee and I feel that she is the perfect candidate to provide our current and future lacrosse student-athletes the coaching, direction, and guidance they need to succeed. We look forward to having her on staff and expect great things moving forward.”
Maness was hired to coach at Lake Erie College in 2008, and after 18 months of preparation she led the team onto the field for the first time in 2010. The Storm posted a 7-7 overall record during their inaugural season. The team participated in the East Coast Conference (ECC), while most other sports at Lake Erie played in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC).
Maness began her coaching career at Morgantown High School while attending West Virginia University. She began as an assistant at Morgantown High in 2002 and was promoted to head coach in 2004. The team won four state championships during her tenure. Maness also serves on the coaching staff for the Midwestern Force club lacrosse team during the summer.
Maness earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Human Nutrition and Food Science at West Virginia. During her time at Waynesburg, Maness received a Master’s of Business Administration degree in 2008.
Off the field, Maness serves as a U.S. Lacrosse North Coast Ohio Chapter board member.
Maness will official begin on July 5, 2011.
For what it’s worth, Lake Erie has been in the bottom few teams in D-2 in Laxpower’s ratings over the past two years. Hopefully Laura can have more success as a Titan than she did as leader of The Storm.