Laura Maness just completed her fifth year as the head coach of the University of Detroit Mercy women’s lacrosse team in 2015-16.
Maness has led the Titans to back-to-back winning seasons, their first two in program history. Detroit has 22 victories in the past two seasons under the direction of Maness, including a school-record 12 wins in 2016.
Detroit's history-making season in 2016 included a run to the A-Sun Championship game for the fourth-straight season. Detroit defeated No. 1 Jacksonville in the A-Sun semifinals, handing the Dolphins their first-ever loss in any conference game in the four-year history of the Atlantic Sun. Detroit nearly earned its first berth in the NCAA Tournament, using a comeback against Old Dominion in the title game to head to overtime, but the Titans fell just short, 11-10.
Under Maness, the Titans had a six-game win streak during the 2016 season and won five games in Atlantic Sun play for the second-straight year. Kaitlyn Wandelt was voted the Atlantic Sun Freshman of the Year, while Kylie Birney earned her second-straight A-Sun Scholar-Athlete of the Year honor. Birney and Ally Shrader were also named All-Atlantic Sun in 2016.
Birney was named the President's Award winner, marking the second-straight season that a women's lacrosse student-athlete earned the honor as Morgan Lear received the award in 2014-15. Birney was also the first Titan women's student-athlete since 1984 to earn CoSIDA Academic All-District At-Large honors and received the IWLCA Division I Scholar-Athlete of the Year award.
The Titans had the 28th-best scoring attack (11.75 goals per game) in the nation, while also setting a new school record for goals against average (10.25). Detroit also set new school records for free-position goals and draw controlsm while tying the goals mark (235) during the 2016 campaign.
Maness led Detroit to a school-record 10 wins in 2014-15 and the program's first season above .500 (10-8). The Titans reached the Atlantic Sun Championship game for the third-straight season, earning two-straight wins in the conference tournament to reach the finals. She directed a defense that secured its lowest goals against average (11.89) in school history and goalkeeper Lexie McCormick and attack Tessa Keuler receiving MidMajor All-American honors following the season. Midfielder Kylie Birney was also named the 2015 Atlantic Sun Scholar Athlete of the Year and the squad earned IWLCA Academic Honor Squad accolades for the sixth-straight season. Detroit finished the 2015 with a perfect 5-0 record at home and the second-most goals in school history (219).
Maness once again had the Titans knocking on the doorstep of their first NCAA Tournament bid as Detroit made the Atlantic Sun Championship game for the second-straight year in 2014. Seven Titans earned A-Sun All-Conference accolades in 2014, while three student athletes were named to the A-Sun All-Academic Team as well as the IWLCA Division I Academic Honor Roll.
Maness earned the 2012 NLC Coach of the Year honor after completely turning around the Titan program and leading UDM to a then-school record eight wins on the year, after Detroit recorded just three victories in 2011. Detroit was also picked to finish seventh in the NLC's Preseason Poll and the Titans turned those predictions around with a school-record five conference wins and a third-place effort, reaching the semifinals of the NLC Tournament.
She did that with a strong second-half surge as the Titans won seven of their last nine games after starting the season 1-7. In its first eight games, Detroit scored just 74 goals (9.2) and gave up 137 (17.1), but in the last nine games, the Titans totaled 140 goals (15.5) and gave up 122 (13.5).
On the year, UDM set a program record in draw controls (237), assists (74), goals per game (12.59) and points per game (16.94). She also coached three All-NLC performers in the nation’s leading goal per game scorer Anna Eidem (4.24), one of the game’s all-time leading goal scorer’s Emily Boissonneault (T-13th in NCAA history with 242 goals) and one of the leading scorers in Titan history Corina Mahorn (third in goals and points).
She followed her first year with more accolades in 2013 as the Titans moved into the Atlantic Sun Conference. UDM finished as the No. 2 seed in the regular season after a 3-1 conference record including a school record 22 goals against Kennesaw State on Apr. 21. UDM took down No. 3 seed Stetson 21-7 in the semifinals and advanced to the inaugural Atlantic Sun Women's Championship game.
She mentored senior Zaynib Hamze who was named the A-Sun Offensive Player of the Year and sophomore goalkeeper Lexie McCormick who captured the A-Sun Defensive Player of the Year honor. In addition to the individual honors to Hamze and McCormick, a total of eight UDM players were named to either the All-Conference First (five Titans) or Second Team (three Titans). Three players were also named to the All-Conference Freshmen Team (Michaela Schwartz, Kylie Birney, Morgan Miller) and three more to the Academic All-League team (Britany Busch, Tessa Keuler, Lexie McCormick).
The 2013 Titans as a whole finished number three in the nation (out of 100) in ground balls per game with 20.58 per contest. Both the 20.58 mark and the 391 total ground balls from UDM in 2013 (19 games) sit as second on the all-time single season list in Titan history behind the 2010 squad that tallied 462 ground balls (23.10/game) over 20 games. Detroit also recorded 8.79 caused turnovers per game, good for 20th in the NCAA.
Individually, McCormick had three top ten finishes including second in the nation in total saves with 174, which was just 16 behind the national leader from Denver who advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. McCormick was also eighth overall in saves per game (9.16) and 10th in the nation in ground balls with 2.89 per contest. McCormick had two other categories in which she placed in the top 100 with a save percentage of .444 for 23rd in addition to a goals-against-average mark of 13.13 for 79th. Hamze was No. 19 in caused turnovers with 1.74 per game, while sophomore Amanda Guthrie was 59th at 1.26. Guthrie's 2.89 ground balls per game was also 10th in the nation while Hamze was 16th (2.68).
Hamze also became the first Titan to ever compete in the IWLCA/DeBeer Division I North/South Senior All-Star lacrosse game participating in 2013.
Maness - the second coach in Titan history - came to Detroit after serving as the head coach at Lake Erie College for two seasons.
“I am very grateful to 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.
Laura Maness - Detroit Coaching Record
2012 - 8-9 (5-2 National Lacrosse Conference)
2013 - 5-14 (3-1 Atlantic Sun)
2014 - 5-13 (3-2 Atlantic Sun)
2015 - 10-8 (5-2 Atlantic Sun)
2016 - 12-8* (5-3 Atlantic Sun)
Overall - 40-52 (21-10 in conference play)
* - School record in victories
