Walton named YSU LAX coach

Staff report

Youngstown State has named Theresa Walton, a former assistant coach at Virginia Commonwealth University, the first women’s lacrosse head coach in school history, the school announced on Monday.

YSU is set to start playing women’s lacrosse in spring of 2021.

Walton, a native of Syracuse, N.Y., spent the past two seasons focusing on the defensive unit, goalkeepers and serving as the recruiting coordinator for head coach Jen O’Brien at VCU. The newly-formed program posted seven victories in each of Walker’s two seasons with school.

“I am beyond grateful to be the very first head women’s lacrosse coach at Youngstown State University,” Walton said. “I would like to especially thank Elaine Jacobs along with the entire search committee for this exciting opportunity to build a strong program here at YSU.

“Their representation of Penguin Pride was evident throughout this process and I cannot wait to make women’s lacrosse a contributing team to the university, athletic department and community as a whole.”

In 2019, VCU was 7-11 and went 4-5 in the Atlantic 10 Conference. The Rams’ defense caused 187 turnovers in the 18 games. Individually, nine players caused at least nine turnovers.

In 2018, VCU finished the year 7-11 overall with a 5-4 Atlantic 10 record. The team earned its first Atlantic 10 Championship berth by defeating seven-time defending conference champion Massachusetts in the regular season, halting their NCAA record 61-game conference winning streak.

Walton led a defensive unit that helped propel the team to its first winning record in conference and included the program’s first wins over Davidson and UMass.

]The defense held opponents to single-digit goals four times in 2018, which also featured two overtime wins. The defense forced a school-record 192 turnovers with eight Rams causing at least 10 turnovers for the campaign.

Walton joined VCU after serving as an assistant coach at the University of Mount Olive.

In her first two years at Mount Olive, the Trojans had an overall record of 27-9.