Jess Smith
2027 Head Coach
A Bit About Me
Smith, the 10th head coach in program history, joins the Blue and Gold after nearly a decade leading the Hornets of Kalamazoo College, a Division III member of the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association.
Smith took over the women's lacrosse program at Kalamazoo in its third varsity season in 2016. In nine seasons, she developed 18 All-MIAA selections, two Defensive Players of the Year, and two Rookies of the Year. This spring, she guided the Hornets to the best season in team history. Kalamazoo won a program-record 10 games, which included a 5-2 mark against MIAA opponents, while setting single-season records for goals (211) and assists (118). Among the four Hornets to earn All-MIAA recognition, two earned year-end awards as the conference's Defensive Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year.
The 2024 Hornets ranked among national leaders in many categories under Smith's tutelage. Kalamazoo was fourth in all of Division III in draw controls per game (18.71), 17th in assists per game (8.43), 23rd in points per game (23.50), and 42nd in scoring offense (15.07). It's not the first time a Smith-led Kalamazoo squad was positioned among the top draw control teams in the country; the Hornets were ranked 49th nationally in 2018, 22nd in the spring of 2019, and fifth in 2021. Recent success on the draw was fueled by the 2024 MIAA Defensive Player of the Year, Hannah Hereren, who was fifth individually with 10.36 draw controls per game as a senior.
An active member of the lacrosse community, Smith was an NCAA site rep for the Division I tournament games hosted by University of Notre Dame this spring. Since 2022, she has been a member of the NCAA's Regional Advisory Committee (RAC) for Region VII. Smith has also helped up-and-coming coaches through the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association's (IWLCA) mentoring program.
Off the lacrosse field, Smith served on Kalamazoo's Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee and briefly led the women's soccer team as interim head coach at the end of the 2023 season.
Before joining the collegiate ranks, Smith spent 11 years as a high school lacrosse coach, educator, and administrator. She built the program at Patterson Mill High School in Bel Air, Maryland, and led the Huskies to three appearances in the state semifinals and one state finals berth. In addition to her role as a health education teacher, Smith also oversaw the entire Patterson Mill athletics program for two years as the school's athletics director from 2007-09.
Smith played club lacrosse at the University of Delaware before graduating magna cum laude in 2004 with a bachelor's in health and exercise science. In 2012, she completed a master's in health science at Towson University, and in 2017, she earned her MBA from the University of North Carolina's Kenan-Flagler Business School.
Erica Brown
2028 Head Coach
A Bit About Me
The 2025-26 season will be Erica Brown's fourth as the head coach of the women's lacrosse program.
The Maroons racked up the postseason accolades once again under Brown's guidance in 2025.Grace Koutouzis was named a IWLCA and USA Lacrosse All-American as well as the ODAC Player of the Year and a IWLCA Senior All-Star. Maddie McDonald was also named an All-American by USA Lacrosse. Additionally, Brown's squad racked up seven All-ODAC, two All-Region, two All-State, and four CSC Academic All-District selections.
Brown's second year was even better than her first. Her efforts with the Roanoke program garnered her ODAC Coach of the Year honors after the squad went 17-5 overall, 8-1 in ODAC play, and made it to the third round of the NCAA Tournment. Brown also led the Maroons to their first undefeated season at home, going 10-0, since the early 1990s. Post-season awards included two All-Americans in Grace Koutouzis and Libby Bowman as well as an All-State and ODAC Rookie of the Year in Maddie McDonald. The squad also picked up eight All-ODAC, four All-State, four All-Region, 28 ODAC All-Academic, 10 IWLCA All-Academic, and five CSC Academic All-District honorees.
Brown had an outstanding first season with the Roanoke College women’s lacrosse team. The Maroons went 16-4 overall and 7-1 in the ODAC and advanced into the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Post-season awards included seven All-ODAC, four All-Region and three all-state honorees. Five Maroons earned spots on the CSC Academic all-district team and Lilly Blair was named a first-team Academic All-American.
Brown completed her 10th season as head coach at Tiffin University in 2021-22. She guided Tiffin to eight straight conference tournament appearances (no conference tourney in 2019-20 due to Covid-19 pandemic) and had a career record of 84-67.
In the 2020-21 season Brown led the Dragons to a three-way tie at the top of the GMAC standings. Senior standout Elle Hamilton was named GMAC Midfielder of the Year, First Team All-Region, and Third Team All-American.
She has coached numerous All Conference standouts, including 43 selections in the last six seasons. In TU's first year in the GMAC in 2019, she led the Dragons to the regular-season conference championship with a perfect 7-0 record and earned a spot in the GMAC title game. Standout Elle Hamilton was named the GMAC Attacker of the Year, while Brown was named conference Coach of the Year.
She led the Dragons to three straight GLIAC Tournament Championship game appearances from 2013-2015. Goalkeeper Jessica Bombard and attacker Emily Roussel were named IWLCA All Americans, while in 2014, they also had two players earn top honors in the conference, as GLIAC co-Attacker of the Year Emily Roussel and two-time GLIAC Goalkeeper of the Year Jessica Bombard were honored. Bombard was also named Goalkeeper of the Year in 2013, while Alexandria Quast earned All-American honors after setting numerous game, season, and career NCAA Division II records.
Brown previously served as Head Coach at Lycoming College, leading the team to a 19-17 overall record, 15-8 in the Middle Atlantic Conference over her two seasons. During that span she coached three All-Region and nine All-Conference players while also guiding 18 student-athletes to Academic All-Conference honors.
She played lacrosse at Wagner College. A standout goalkeeper, Brown still ranks second all-time in Wagner history in career minutes played, career saves and career goals against average. She also holds the record for minutes played in a season and ranks second in saves in a season. A co-captain of the team in her senior year, she was ranked on lax.com as one of the top-12 goalies in all of Division I.
Brown earned a bachelor's degree in public policy and administration from Wagner College in 2005 and is finishing her master's degree in liberal arts from Lock Haven. She is certified as a lacrosse referee by the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) and U.S. Lacrosse.
Emilia Ward
2029 Head Coach
A Bit About Me
Emilia Ward was named the second lacrosse coach in Central Michigan history in July 2022 by Zyzelewski Family Associate Vice President/director of athletics Amy Folan.
Ward orchestrated the program's first outright regular season season conference title in 2024, the fourth overall (regular season, tournament) since the Mid-American Conference began sponsoring a women's lacrosse championship in 2021. The season was led by 2024 MAC Goalkeeper of the Year Alexa Martel and 2025 MAC Defensive Player of the Year Jozy Allen, both players marked the first to earn their respective award in program history. Martel and Allen were two of six All-MAC honorees in 2024, joined by first-team attacker Skye DePrado.
Martel became the first in program history to record a 200-plus save season in 2024, one of few to do so across NCAA I that season, then led the nation with 12.00 saves per game in 2025. The Rochester, N.Y.-native graduated as the all-time saves leader (586) in 2025.
Allen set the season draw controls record in 2025 as the first to eclipse 100 (104) in a single season, graduated in 2025 second in both career caused turnovers (81) and draw controls (183).
In Ward's inaugural season, Central Michigan continued its streak of league championships with a MAC tournament run of victories over second-seed Kent State and host Robert Morris en route to the program’s reappearance in the NCAA tournament, after falling to both programs in back-to-back weeks to close the regular season. Coach Ward’s first season in Mount Pleasant featured seven All-MAC selections, including first-team nods for attackers Maggie Diebold, Kelly Hoyt, and Audrey Whiteside and defender Hailie Moore.
Ward served as a volunteer assistant coach at Michigan in 2022 and before that was an assistant at Marquette from 2020-21. She also coached at Northern Michigan from 2015-19, serving as the inaugural head coach of the program.
In 2022 at Michigan, Ward worked with the goalkeepers, a unit that ranked second in the Big Ten, and was among the top 10 in the nation, in goals against average and save percentage as the Wolverines advanced to the Sweet Sixteen in the NCAA Tournament.
Ward helped goalie Arielle Weissman to a bevy of postseason honors: Inside Lacrosse All-America second team, Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association All-America third team, USA Lacrosse Magazine All-America honorable mention, IWLCA West/Midwest All-Region first team and second team All-Big Ten.
During Ward's time at Marquette, she worked directly with the defense and goalkeepers. She also handled operations duties and served as the academic liaison as the program compiled a 3.45 cumulative grade point average during her two seasons.
Ward helped Sophia Leva to 2021 All-BIG EAST honors, the first Marquette goalie in history to earn the honor, after she led the conference in saves, saves per game and save percentage. In 2020 under Ward's leadership, Marquette ranked second in the Big East in saves per game and save percentage. Leva set the season program record for save percentage and Jules Horning broke the career record for saves.
Along with starting the Northern Michigan program, Ward also started the program at Kalamazoo College in 2014. Ward led her 2019 NMU team to a Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament berth. She also served as an assistant at Adrian College from 2009-11.
Ward earned four letters at Manhattan College from 2005-08. She holds a bachelor’s degree in communications in 2008. She earned a master’s in sports science from the US Sports Academy in 2013.