The Michigan Wolverines women's lacrosse team is the intercollegiate women's lacrosse program representing the University of Michigan. The school competes in the Big Ten Conference in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The Wolverines play their home games in Ann Arbor, primarily at Michigan Stadium, with the indoor Oosterbaan Field House as a secondary option. Women's lacrosse was established as a varsity sport in 2014, and the team played in the American Lacrosse Conference during its inaugural season before joining the Big Ten in 2015. The team is currently coached by Hannah Nielsen.
History
Prior to the establishment of its varsity program, women's lacrosse was a club sport at the University of Michigan. In 2011, the club team compiled a record of 15–6 under the direction of head coach Jen Dunbar. On May 25, 2011, Michigan officially promoted its women's lacrosse team to varsity status, the same day that the school's varsity men's program was announced. Unlike the men's team, the women's team was not originally scheduled to begin play until 2013. In May 2011, the most pressing priorities for the new women's program were the search for its first head coach and its application for membership in the American Lacrosse Conference, which counted among its members other Big Ten schools such as Northwestern, Ohio State, and Penn State, as well as more distant institutions such as Florida, Johns Hopkins, and Vanderbilt.
In 2014, Michigan played its inaugural varsity season as a member of the American Lacrosse Conference under head coach Jennifer Ulehla. Prior to being named head coach on September 8, 2011, Uleha had been an assistant coach at Florida and with the U.S. National Elite Team as well as an assistant coach at Temple and James Madison. The program's first official varsity game was at Villanova on February 22, while its home opener was against Marquette on February 28 at Oosterbaan Field House. On June 3, 2013, the Big Ten Conference announced that it would begin sponsoring women's lacrosse in 2015; together with men's lacrosse, which would debut the same season, they would respectively be the conference's 27th and 28th official sports. Alongside Michigan, the five other teams competing in the new conference included Maryland, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, and Rutgers. As of 2015, head coach Uleha's coaching staff consists of assistant coaches Becca Block and Alyssa Murray.
Coaching staff NamePosition coachedConsecutive season atMichigan in current position Hannah Nielsen Head coach 7th Ana Heneberry Assistant coach 7th Casey Pearsall Assistant coach 2nd Nora Boerger Assistant coach 1stReference:
Season results The following is a list of Michigan's season results as an NCAA Division I program:
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†NCAA cancelled 2020 collegiate activities due to the COVID-19 pandemic
Stadium
Michigan plays its home games at both Michigan Stadium and Oosterbaan Field House. For both the 2014 and 2015 seasons, the team scheduled its first two games of the year at Oosterbaan, and then played the remainder of its home schedule (six games, in both cases) at Michigan Stadium. Oosterbaan Field House, which was built in 1970, has a total capacity of 1,000 and a FieldTurf playing surface. Michigan Stadium boasts a capacity of 107,601 and was built for the Michigan football team in 1927; however, it did not host a varsity lacrosse game until 2012, when the Michigan men's lacrosse program played its first game there. The women's team played its first game at Michigan Stadium on March 20, 2014, losing to Winthrop, 14–12.
Individual career records
RecordNumberPlayerYears Goals 196 Jill Smith 2022–2025 Assists 90 Caitlin Muir 2018–2022 Points 245 Jill Smith 2022–2025 Ground balls 111 Maddie Burns 2021–2024 Draw controls 239 Anna Schueler 2014–2017 Saves 371 Mira Shane 2016–2019 Save % .519 Erin O'Grady 2022–2025
Individual single season records
RecordNumberPlayerYear Goals 65 Jill Smith 2023 Assists 34 Kaylee Dyer 2025 Points 82 Jill Smith 2025 Ground balls 41 Allison SilberMaddie Burns 20142024 Draw controls 135 Emma Burke 2025 Saves 167 Erin O'Grady 2025 Save % .549 Erin O'Grady 2024
Individual honors First Team All Americans Maddie Burns - 2024 Erin O'Grady - 2024
Big Ten Defender of the Year Maddie Burns - 2024
Big Ten Goaltender of the Year Erin O'Grady - 2024 Erin O'Grady - 2025
Postseason results
The Wolverines have appeared in 6 NCAA tournaments. Their postseason record is 7–6.
Year SeedRoundOpponentScore 2019 #8 First RoundSecond Round JacksonvilleDenver W 13–9 L 5–9 2022 – First RoundSecond Round Notre Dame#4 Northwestern W 17–11L 12–15 2023 – First RoundSecond Round Central Michigan#1 Northwestern W 13–6L 7–8 2024 – First RoundSecond RoundQuarterfinal Mercer#7 Notre Dame#2 Boston College W 17–6W 15–14L 9–14 2025 – First RoundSecond Round Akron #3 Northwestern W 17–6L 7–15 2026 #7 First RoundSecond Round MercerStanford W 18–8L 12–13
References
External links