May 1, 2006
Stanford, Calif. - Stanford head women's lacrosse coach Michele Uhlfelder has been named the US Lacrosse Women's Coach of the Week, as announced earlier today by the US Lacrosse headquarters in Baltimore. Uhlfelder, along with Men's Coach of the Week Chris Burdick of Providence, will be recognized for the honor in an upcoming CSTV broadcast.
Uhlfelder joins an elite group of coaches who have been recognized by US Lacrosse this year. In the first nine weeks of the season, the award has gone to Lisa Miller (Syracuse), Janine Tucker (Johns Hopkins), Julie Myers (Virginia), Jenny Levy (North Carolina), Jenny Graap (Cornell), Ricky Fried (Georgetown), Kerstin Kimel (Duke), Tony Zostant (St. Bonaventure) and Kelly Amonte-Hiller (Northwestern).
The sixth-year head coach led her team to two impressive victories this weekend, including a 5-4 upset of No. 10 Cornell. The win over the Ivy League champion was Stanford's fifth straight, good for the third longest current winning streak in the country. Stanford finishes the regular-season with a 10-5 (.667) overall record and a 4-1 (.800) mark in conference play. The Cardinal begins its quest for a second-straight MPSF Tournament title this weekend in Eugene, Ore.
Uhlfelder, a Baltimore native, is 70-35 (.667) in just under six seasons with the Cardinal program. She is 42-2 (.955) against current members of the MPSF and has won four conference tournament championships. Uhlfelder's squads have gained a share of the top spot in the conference in each of her six years as head coach and have now posted nine single-season winning streaks of four games or more.
Since coming to Stanford in 2001, Uhlfelder has brought the Cardinal program into the national spotlight. This year, Stanford has been ranked 12 of 13 weeks, faced six top-20 opponents and topped two programs for the first time in school history. Yesterday, Uhlfelder and the Cardinal took down a top-10 team for the first time in program history.
Stanford returns to action Saturday and will face the winner of the California-UC Davis match. Opening draw is scheduled for 4 p.m. at Pape Field on the University of Oregon campus.