Lauren Benner 2023-24 Women's Lacrosse Staff

Notre Dame head women’s lacrosse coach Christine Halfpenny announced the addition of Lauren Benner to the staff as an associate coach. Benner joined the Irish after spending the 2022 year at Loyola.

In her first year Benner made an immediate impact as the Defensive Coordinator leading her unit to a 19th rank for scoring defense and 11th rank for Goals Against Average. She played an integral role in the team’s final ranking of 8 for the 2023 season where the Irish turned in a record of 15-6 and advanced through the Elite 8 in the NCAA tournament. Midfielder Kasey Choma earned All-ACC, IWLCA Midwest Region and IWLCA All-America honors, in addition to being announced as a Tewaaraton Top 25 Nominee. Teammate, and goalie, Lilly Callahan stood by her side with both All-ACC and IWLCA MIdwest All-Region honors. Additionally midfielder Kelly Denes made second team All-ACC, as did defender Hannah Dorney and defender Abby Lyons was named to the All-ACC Freshman Team.

Prior to Notre Dame, Benner coached at Loyola University, joining their staff for the 2022 season and helping the Greyhounds finish with a school-record in wins, a 20-2 overall record, a sixth Patriot League Championship and their first trip to the NCAA quarterfinals since 2015.

With Benner on staff the Loyola defense was among the nation’s elite, ranking third in the country in scoring defense (8.05 goals allowed per game). Greyhound goalie Kaitlyn Larsson ranked third in the country in goals allowed per game with an average of 8.25 per contest.

Prior to spending the 2022 season at Loyola, Benner was an Athletic Administrator and the head lacrosse coach at Valor Christian High School from 2017-20, where she was named the CHSAA State Coach of the Year in 2019 after leading Valor to a school record for most wins in a season, the school’s first-ever League Championship and a state semifinal appearance, the furthest the school had advanced up to that point. During this time, Benner also served as a head coach and goalie director at 3d Lacrosse Colorado in Denver. Benner was responsible for developing and implementing college-level training and prep for nationally ranked goalies. She also was the Executive Director for the Colorado Girls Lacrosse Association which included oversight and management of league operations to 28+ youth girls lacrosse rec programs in the state of Colorado.

Benner began her coaching career at the University of Denver, where she served as an assistant coach for the 2012-15 seasons. She helped the Pioneers to four-straight winning seasons, their first MPSF Conference Championship in 2013 – a feat in which Denver repeated in 2014 – the program’s first automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament and a No. 16 final ranking in the 2013 IWLCA Coaches Poll.

Under her guidance, Denver’s goalkeeper ranked first nationally in saves in 2013, third in save percentage in 2013 and 2014 and was a Top-25 Tewaaraton Award Semifinalist in 2014.

Following her time at Denver, Benner joined the Louisville staff as an assistant coach for the 2016 season. There, she helped the Cardinal to the program’s highest-ever national ranking (5th) and she helped coach a Top-25 Tewaaraton Award Semifinalist, an All-American and three Regional All-Americans.

As a player, Benner was a goalkeeper at the University of Virginia from 2007-10. She helped the Cavaliers to a pair of Atlantic Coast Conference Championships, four-straight NCAA Tournaments and an appearance in championship weekend. She was named to the IWLCA All-South Region Team in 2010 and earned VaSID All-State Team honors that same year. Due to redshirting her sophomore season, Benner was able to play her fifth year at the University of Denver, where she obtained her master’s degree in strategic communications. She also graduated from Virginia in 2010 with a bachelor’s degree in religious studies/media studies.

Post-collegiately, Benner played for Team STX, where she helped to expand the reach of women’s lacrosse nationally and internationally while representing the brand and products globally.

In addition to her playing and coaching experience, Benner is a women’s lacrosse referee and owns Line 39 Lacrosse.