New Lacrosse Coach Named

Former American University lacrosse coach Katie Woods will lead the Huskies' women's lacrosse squad.

Katie Woods. Photo provided by the Division of Athletics
Katie Woods. Photo provided by the Division of Athletics

Katie Woods has been named the new head coach for the Huskies’ women’s lacrosse team, after leading American University’s lacrosse squad for the past four years.

Woods replaces Angela McMahon, who guided the Huskies for the past two seasons before resigning to take the head coaching job at the University of Massachusetts, where she was associate head coach before coming to UConn.

A native of South Windsor, Conn., Woods was named the 2008 Patriot League Coach of the Year, and in 2010 four of her student-athletes were named All-Patriot League. During her time at American, 27 student-athletes earned all-league honors, and three garnered league player of the year awards.

“I am very excited to be the next head coach of UConn lacrosse,” Woods said, “and I’m looking forward to working at such a strong academic and athletic institution.”

In 2008, Woods led American to a 5-1 record in Patriot League play and a share of the regular season championship. In both 2007 and 2008, Woods led the Eagles to the championship game of the Patriot League tournament.

Before taking over at American, Woods spent two seasons as an assistant coach at Brown University in 2005 and 2006, where she coached the offensive unit and assisted in coaching the goalkeepers. In 2004, Woods was the first assistant at Cornell, where she worked with the attack and aided in player development. She served as an assistant coach at Davidson in 2003 and, while earning a master’s degree in exercise and sports sciences at Ithaca College in 2002, she was a graduate assistant coach for both women’s soccer and lacrosse.

Woods was a two-sport athlete at Drew University, where she played lacrosse and soccer while earning a degree in psychology in 2001. A four-time All-Conference selection in lacrosse who earned two regional All-American and one national All-America awards, Woods also excelled in the classroom as a two-time Scholar Athlete award winner. She is a 1997 graduate of South Windsor High School where she played soccer, basketball, and lacrosse.