NORTHBOROUGH, MASS. — The Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association has announced that three coaches will be inducted into the association’s Hall of Fame class for 2021. The Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will take place in November during the IWLCA Awards Banquet held in conjunction with the IWLCA Convention at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas, Texas.
The class of 2021 includes current Gettysburg College head coach, Carol Cantele, and former coaches Janet Smith and Sue Stahl. Princeton University head coach Chris Sailer chaired the IWLCA’s Hall of Fame committee that selected this year’s honorees.
“The Hall of Fame committee did a fantastic job selecting this class of honorees from among all of the well-qualified coaches that have been nominated,” said Liz Grote, President of the IWLCA and head coach at Bowdoin College. “Carol, Janet, and Sue have each amassed a significant measure of success on the field, but their impact is even greater when you consider the positive influence they have had on all of the young women they coached during their career, their records of service to the sport, and their contributions to the coaching profession.”
Tickets for the 2021 IWLCA Awards Banquet and Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will go on sale October 1 and will remain available on the IWLCA website through November 16, 2021. The IWLCA Hall of Fame was established in May 2017 to recognize and honor outstanding career achievements by collegiate women's lacrosse coaches. The class of 2021 will be the fourth class of honorees to be inducted.
Carol Cantele has been the head coach at Gettysburg College since 1992, and previously coached at Plymouth State University and Miami University (OH). Over her 32 years as a head coach, she has amassed a .770 winning percentage (446-133), and her 446 career wins put her in third place for all-time NCAA victories. Cantele, whose Gettysburg squads captured the 2011, 2017, and 2018 NCAA Division III Championships, is a four-time IWLCA National Coach of the Year honoree and has also claimed 10 Regional Coach of the Year awards, and 12 Centennial Conference Championships. Under Cantele’s leadership, the Bullets have received 19 NCAA Championship tournament bids, and made seven NCAA semi-final appearances. She has mentored 16 conference Players of the Year, nine IWLCA Players of the Year, and 18 first-team All-Americans. Cantele also serves as the Assistant Director of Athletics and Senior Woman Administrator at Gettysburg and has been presented with the Judith M. Sweet Commitment Award from NACWAA and the Diane Geppi-Aikens Memorial Award from the IWLCA. Additionally, she served on the coaching staff for the U.S. National Team program from 2009-13 and won five conference titles as the head field hockey coach at Gettysburg.
Janet Smith was the head coach at the University of Delaware from 1980-1989, where she led the Blue Hens to three National Championships (AIAW Division II in 1981 and 1982 and NCAA Division I in 1983). She amassed a 118-51-1 career record and collected four East Coast conference Championship titles to go along with five national championship tournament bids (three AIAW and two NCAA) and four semi-final appearances. Smith coached two conference Players of the Year, one national Player of the Year, five first-team All-Americans, and five who were named to the U.S. National Team. She was inducted into the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 1997 and is also enshrined in the University of Delaware and Ursinus College Athletics Halls of Fame. Smith was a five-time member of the U.S. Senior women’s team and was selected to play on three international touring teams.
Sue Stahl coached collegiately from 1970 through her retirement in 2011, and won four National Championship titles, collecting two AIAW Championships as an assistant at Ursinus College, and two NCAA titles as an assistant at Temple University. As the head coach at Old Dominion University, Stahl recorded 142 wins, won three Colonial Athletic Association championships and was named CAA Coach of the Year in 1995. She was the head coach of the U.S. women’s national team from 1998-2005 and was honored as the Outstanding World Cup Coach by the IFWLA in 1997. Stahl coached the U.S. World Cup Team to four consecutive championships in 1989, 1993, 1997 and 2001. She was inducted into the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 1999 and has also received the Diane Geppi Aikens Memorial Award from the IWLCA and the Nancy Chance Award from US Lacrosse.