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IWLCA Names 2022 Division II Coaches of the Year

By IWLCA Admin, 07/19/22, 2:30PM EDT

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IWLCA Names 2022 Division II Coaches of the Year

 

The IWLCA has named the 2022 National and Regional Coaches of the Year in Division II. All winners will be honored at the IWLCA Convention scheduled for November 16-18, 2022 at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas, Texas.

Division II National Coach of the Year

James Delaney, University of Indianapolis

Delaney led the 22-1 Greyhounds to the Division II NCAA Championship with an 11-9 win over East Stroudsburg University. The Greyhounds collected eight IWLCA All-Region accolades and six All-American nods, with Abigail Lagos claiming IWLCA Attacker and Player of the Year honors. UIndy finished the season ranked No. 1 in the IWLCA/ILWomen Division II Poll.


Division II Regional Coaches of the Year

Atlantic Region

Xeni Barakos-Yoder, East Stroudsburg University

East Stroudsburg women’s lacrosse has continued to soar to new heights as seventh-year head coach Xeni Barakos-Yoder guided the Warriors to the program’s first national championship appearance with a 20-2 record this season. An ESU alumna, Barakos-Yoder has helped her alma mater reach the NCAA Tournament in five consecutive seasons (its only five appearances) and ESU has advanced to the NCAA Semifinals in three of the last four seasons. In 2022, ESU set school records for wins in a season (20, prev. was 17 in 2017), matched its longest winning streak of 11 and won PSAC (2nd in ESU history) and NCAA DII Atlantic Region championships (2nd consecutive, third in ESU history). Among NCAA Division II programs, Barakos-Yoder helped the Warrior defense to rank first in ground balls per game, third in caused turnovers per game, sixth in scoring defense and eighth in scoring margin. Under her leadership, ESU boasted a program best five IWLCA All-Americans, six all-region honorees and six All-PSAC honors. Through seven seasons, Barakos-Yoder sports a 95-25 record, and trails all-time wins leader Sandy Miller by just 11 wins in 13 less seasons. Her .792 winning percentage is the best in program-history by a land slide, with Carole Mushier (1963-67, 14-13) as the only other coach in ESU’s 58-year history with an above .500 winning percentage.


East Region

Kate Conover, Stonehill College

Conover, the Northeast-10 Conference Coach of the Year, led the Skyhawks, picked to finish ninth in the NE10 preseason coaches' poll, to an 18-3 record overall, including 12-1 in the NE10 to win the Conference’s regular season championship for a record 12th time, adding a record tenth NE10 Tournament title with a 13-12 win over then No. 11 and third-seeded Le Moyne College in the title game. Stonehill earned a ninth NCAA Tournament bid and the top seed for the NCAA East Regional. Stonehill is ranked No. 5 in the final IWLCA/ILWomen Division II poll of the year and Coach Conover became the first NE10 women’s lacrosse coach to surpass 200 career wins with the Skyhawks 19-2 win at American International College on March 23. Stonehill boasted the top attack in the NE10, scoring 17.05 goals per game, to rank sixth nationally in Division II, while also leading the NE10 with 18.43 draw controls per game (4th nationally), and ranking fourth in the NE10 with 10.71 caused turnovers per game and third with 19.14 ground balls per game. Three Skyhawks earned IWLCA All-America honors and five were named to the IWLCA All-East Region teams, while seven collected All-NE10 honors, Midfielder of the Year and Attacker of the Year, with Conover being named Coach of the Year.


Midwest Region

James Delaney, University of Indianapolis

See bio above.


South Region

Clare Short, Queens University

Clare Short earned her 100th career win with the Royals this season en route to Queens posting a 21-1 record making the 2022 season the winningest in program history. Queens finished the regular season undefeated for the first time in program history and went on to repeat as SAC Champions and South Region Champions before falling in the NCAA DII Women’s Lacrosse National Semifinals. It was Queens’ third straight season reaching the final four. The Royals were also ranked No. 1 in the ILWomen/IWLCA Poll for the first time in program history, holding the top spot for eight straight weeks. Following the season, five Royals earned All-American honors and Grace Guglielmo was named IWLCA DII Defender of the Year. The Royals closed the year ranked fourth nationally with the top-ranked scoring offense and scoring margin in DII. Additionally, Queens led the country in draw controls per game.