Di Puorto Tabbed As New Head Coach Leading Women’s Lacrosse Program
Named 16th bench boss in program history following stints at High Point, Catawba
from Bryce Johnson, Director of Athletic Communications, at Guilford College
GREENSBORO, N.C. – The Guilford College Athletics Department is pleased to welcome Lauren Di Puorto as the 16th head coach in the history of the Quakers Women’s Lacrosse program, the department announced on Thursday morning.
“I am very pleased to welcome Lauren Di Puorto as the Head Coach of Women’s Lacrosse at Guilford,” Director of Athletics, Bill Foti said. “Coach Di Puorto has extensive collegiate coaching experience, most recently at both High Point University and Catawba College as well as a background in the local club scene. Her enthusiasm for the position, coupled with her comprehensive plan for recruiting, makes her the right person at the right time to lead our program to future success.”
“I am grateful for the opportunity to build the next chapter of Guilford College Women’s Lacrosse,” Di Puorto added. “This is a program and school with incredible opportunity. Together, we will build a culture that values hard work, resilience and attracts student-athletes who are passionate about excellence both on and off the field. I look forward to building something our players, alumni, and campus community can all be proud of.”
Di Puorto has been coaching in some capacity ever since she completed her playing career, garnering head and assistant coaching experience at the Division-I, Division-II, collegiate club, high school, and youth club levels across the Tar Heel State. Her most-recent NCAA experience came right down the road at High Point University where she helped guide the Panthers to consecutive seasons with at least a dozen wins in addition to a berth to the Big South Women’s Lacrosse Championship Game in 2024 and 2025. Serving as Assistant Women’s Lacrosse Coach and specifically tasked with training and development of the HPU goalkeepers, they ranked 75th and 76th in scoring defense in Division-I during her two seasons, during which the Panthers went a combined 24-12.
Before returning to the Triad, Di Puorto was the Assistant Women’s Lacrosse Coach at Division-II Catawba College for a trio of seasons from 2021 through 2023. Her opening campaign with the Chiefs was truncated by COVID, but it opened the door for an eight-win year-over-year increase in her second year with CC in 2022, during which the team went 8-9. She also has stints back at High Point as the Head Women’s Club Lacrosse Coach, as the Head Girls Lacrosse Coach at both Forsyth Country Day School and Hickory High School, and finally a number of years with NC Fusion Girls Lacrosse.
Di Puorto (then Lauren Donovan), herself was a standout in her undergraduate career with Lenoir-Rhyne University, remaining the Bears’ all-time leading scorer in both points and goals, accruing 253 points and 167 goals, while she is also second in program history in career assists with 86. She holds the top-two single-season point totals with a program record 80 points in 2014 and then 78 in 2015 as well. LRU was an emerging program during her underclass seasons, receiving NCAA Division II All-Independent First Team honors her first-two years before they joined the South Atlantic Conference and she got All-SAC First Team recognition in that league too. Finally, as a senior, Di Puorto getting picked as the SAC Player of the Year on her was to IWLCA Division-II All-America Third Team and All-South Region Second Team honors while also being a nominee for the NCAA Woman of the Year in Division-II, highlighting her brilliance off the field as well as on it. Despite playing just their second through fifth seasons of NCAA lacrosse during her playing career, Di Puorto helped lead the Bears to a 40-29 cumulative record and a trio of double-digit win seasons.
A member of the class of 2015, Di Puorto earned her degree in Middle School Education from Lenoir-Rhyne.
Di Puorto takes over a women’s lacrosse program in a strong spot after posting their top full-season record in over a decade at 8-9 on their way to a return to the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) Tournament for the first time since 2021.
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