NSU’s inaugural women’s lacrosse team is set to take the field in the spring of 2027. The program hired its new head coach, Heather Coppola, in July.
Coppola, a Syracuse, N.Y.-native, played lacrosse through her youth and at the collegiate level, competing with Division III side Alvernia University in Reading, Pa. She began coaching shortly after her athletic career in 2013, serving as an assistant coach at Allegheny College, SUNY Oswego, Robert Morris University and Baldwin Wallace University. Coppola’s first head coaching job was at Concordia University, St. Paul in 2017, where she led the program to its first conference championship. She went on to coach at the University of Mount Olive from 2020-2025, where she won five straight conference championships.
“Coppola came highly recommended as one of the top coaches at the conference she was at,” said Ryan Romero, interim director of athletics. “She’s had a lot of success, not only with the team, but in managing a roster, adding to it and building one out from scratch.”
Coppola has coached across all divisions, which she believes will help her as she takes on her new role at NSU.
“The Sunshine State Conference is the best conference in the country, arguably across all divisions,” Coppola said. “We have to operate at a high caliber, and I know what it takes to win championships, so my experience has been helpful to understand this landscape in general.”
Coppola cites a multitude of reasons for deciding to come help build NSU women’s lacrosse.
“NSU is a triple threat in terms of high-level academics, a great location and great resources,” Coppola said. “The school is really invested in lacrosse and making sure we compete at the national level.”
The university originally announced its plans for a women’s lacrosse program in 2022, but the idea had been in development around four years prior, Romero said.
“We were looking at multiple female sports to expand into because our campus demographic ratio is far higher female to male. Women’s lacrosse is a rapidly growing sport across the country, and a lot of the teams in our conference have recently added the sport,” Romero said. “It’s going to draw some interest and give us a whole other fanbase, we get calls almost daily from people who are interested in the program, so we’re excited all around.”
Romero believes the creation of a new sport highlights the growth of the NSU athletics department as well as the direction in which it is headed.
“This addition displays the commitment of the university and administration to keep expanding our program,” Romero said. “It’s been a long time coming and we’ve overcome multiple obstacles, so it shows on a national level as well that we are serious about being the best Division II program in the country.”
Romero said the plan is for the team to play its games on a field adjacent to the NSU Soccer Stadium that is home to NSU men’s and women’s soccer, as well as professional team Fort Lauderdale United. While its first season is more than a year away, the team already has at least four commits, said Coppola, who hopes to have at least 27 by the time the season opens. She believes Shark fans can anticipate watching an exciting and dynamic team.
“It’s going to be a young group, but they’re going to be fast paced with an aggressive style of offense,” Coppola said. “Lacrosse is very fast with a lot of goalscoring and action, so I hope we deliver that.”
Coppola has clear goals and expectations for her squad as she prepares to lead the program in the years to come.
“We want to be competitive right away. Every team in the Sunshine State Conference besides one is nationally ranked, so we have a lot to live up to, but I think that we’re fully capable of getting to that level,” Coppola said. “Our overarching goal would be a national championship down the road, but before we get to that end goal, we want to make sure we’re staying competitive and winning games.”
Be the first to comment on "A New Era: Women’s Lacrosse Coming to NSU"