IWLCA Announces 2017 Kristina Quigley Scholarship Winner

IWLCA President Kathy Taylor announced that Danielle Taylor, head coach at Elizabethtown College, has been named the 2017 winner of the Kristina Quigley Scholarship. This award honors the former Seton Hill coach, Kristina Quigley, who was tragically killed in a bus accident in 2013 while traveling with her team. The bus driver and Quigley’s unborn son also did not survive. The Kristina Quigley Scholarship will help offset the cost for Taylor’s family to accompany her to the IWLCA Annual Meetings in Florida in November.

“I was so pleased to inform Danielle that she had been chosen to receive this year’s Kristina Quigley Scholarship,” said Taylor, who is also the head coach at Le Moyne College. “Her application for the award made it clear that she is the embodiment of Kristie Quigley’s legacy. She has found a way to merge her commitment to her family with her love for coaching. Danielle has created an Elizabethtown lacrosse family that is empowering the young women she works with and providing them with the tools to pursue their dreams.”

Taylor and her husband Blake have three young children, Aubree (age 6), Owen (3), and Brady (1). In her application, Taylor wrote “It took several years and more than a few losing seasons for me to realize that what I was doing for these student-athletes is much bigger than what we accomplish on the field. I learned that I have a platform to encourage community engagement and the importance of giving back, I have the responsibility to teach teamwork, conflict resolution, and responsibility, and most importantly I can empower women to realize they don’t have to compromise their dream career in order to be there for their family. In my world there is no separation between my passion for coaching and my passion for my family, mostly because there is no separation between family and the team.”

The Taylor Family

The Kristina Quigley Scholarship description reads, in part:

To honor the passion, commitment and values of Kristina Quigley, the IWLCA has established a scholarship in her name. The purpose of this scholarship will be to subsidize a trip to the location of the IWLCA Annual Meeting for the recipient’s family. The time-intensive nature of the coaching profession is significant and family time is often sacrificed. The opportunity for a family to join a coach on this trip represents the very essence of Kristina Quigley. 

Taylor was selected by the Kristina Quigley Scholarship committee based on her essay response detailing her “passion for coaching and family,” and describing “what it would mean to have your family with you at the IWLCA Annual Meeting.” After being informed of her selection, Taylor said: “I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the IWLCA for presenting my family and me with the Kristina Quigley Scholarship. I am extremely blessed with the opportunity to carry out Kristie’s passion for family and coaching every day. Over the past five years, my family has made significant sacrifices to support my coaching career without hesitation. I am overwhelmed with excitement to share this once in a lifetime experience with them.”

The 2017 IWLCA Annual Meetings will be held November 15-17 at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. Taylor will travel with her husband, children, and mother Debbie to attend the meetings.