By: Sarah Madden, Senior Writer
Come spring 2018, a new varsity sport for women will begin its inaugural season under the direction of Ceri Miller, recently named head coach of the Wofford women’s lacrosse team. Miller, currently in her third year as head coach at Goucher College, tells Wofford Athletics she is “honored” to accept this position and is “excited to create a strong tradition and culture of competitive lacrosse in Spartanburg.”
“We are extremely excited to have [Miller] joining our staff as head coach,” says Director of Athletics Richard Johnson. “We feel we have found the right person to build a strong women’s lacrosse program here at Wofford.”
Miller, who served as an assistant coach at Dickinson College from 2010-2013 prior to joining Goucher, was also a physical trainer and fitness instructor at the Harrisburg YMCA. She is a certified spinning, TRX and PiYo instructor.
In her first year as head coach of the Goucher Gophers, the women’s lacrosse program achieved seven victories and the team included five All-Landmark Conference performers in 2013.
Miller played lacrosse collegiately as a defender at both C.W. Post Long Island University and McDaniel College. She was at McDaniel from 2007-09, where the team earned Centennial Conference Tournament appearances in each season and was crowned ECAC champions in 2007. Miller was a two-year captain for the Green Terror, and she was named the team’s MVP in 2009.
After earning a B.A. in exercise science and physical education from McDaniel in 2008, Miller received her M.S. in the same discipline in 2009. In her free time, Miller is an avid runner. She has completed multiple marathons, including the NYC Marathon in each of the last two Novembers.
The first incoming class of Wofford recruits will enroll in the fall of 2016, with the second recruiting class entering in the fall of 2017. The first season of NCAA competition will be in the spring of 2018. Games will be played at Gibbs Stadium, while locker room facilities will be in the Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium.
“It’s very exciting for Wofford College to field a women’s team in lacrosse, arguably the fastest-growing sport in the NCAA,” Wofford President Nayef Samhat says. “We know we will see more and more of our Terrier fans enjoying this exhilarating and fast-paced sport, and we can’t wait to see the team compete on a national level.”
The addition of women’s lacrosse will give Wofford a total of 19 varsity intercollegiate sports, comprising nine women’s programs, nine men’s programs and one co-ed program. Wofford has been an NCAA Division I member since 1995 and a member of the Southern Conference since 1997.
Wofford will compete in the Atlantic Sun conference, as the SoCon currently only sponsors men’s lacrosse. Other members of the Atlantic Sun for women’s lacrosse include Furman, Mercer, Jacksonville, Old Dominion, Kennesaw State, Howard, Stetson, Central Michigan, Delaware State (2017) and Detroit.
