DETROIT (7/1/2016) -- After five years at the helm of the University of Detroit Mercy women's lacrosse program,
Laura Maness has accepted a new head coaching position at Kennesaw State University, it was announced on Friday.
Maness becomes the second head coach for the Owls, who are entering their fifth year as a program in 2017. Maness helped the Titans reach new heights during her tenure with Detroit Mercy reaching four-straight Atlantic Sun Championship games and winning 40 games in her five years as head coach.
"I would like to thank coach Maness for all her accomplishments and the hard work and dedication during her time at the University of Detroit Mercy," said Director of Athletics Robert C. Vowels Jr. "We wish her the best in her new position."
Maness, the second head coach in Titan history, led the Titans to a then-program-best eight victories in her first season in 2012, earning NLC Coach of the Year honors. The Titans advanced to all four Atlantic Sun Championship games under Maness during her tenure from 2013-2016. Detroit had a 16-8 record in the A-Sun in their four years with Maness at the helm and posted a 21-10 conference record overall in her five seasons.
After setting a new school-record with 10 victories during the 2015 campaign, the Titans surpassed the total in 2016, earning 12 triumphs and upsetting a higher seed at the conference tournament for the third-straight year. Detroit Mercy upset No. 1 Jacksonville in the tournament semifinals, handing the Dolphins their first-ever loss in Atlantic Sun history.
Under Maness, Detroit Mercy had 24 All-Conference selections during her five-year tenure, including the 2013 Atlantic Sun Player of the Year Zaynib Hamze, 2013 Defensive Player of the Year
Lexie McCormick and 2016 Atlantic Sun Freshman of the Year
Kaitlyn Wandelt. Seventeen more were honored with Academic All-Conference laurels and
Kylie Birney was a two-time Atlantic Sun Scholar-Athlete of the Year as well as the 2016 IWLCA Division I Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
Three of the five women's President's Award winners were also from the women's lacrosse team during Maness' career -- Emily Boissonneault in 2012,
Morgan Lear in 2015 and
Kylie Birney in 2016.
A national search for a new head coach will begin immediately.
