Bethany names Blake women's lacrosse coach
Andrew Woodley, Sports Information Director
BETHANY, W.Va. (June 16) —Bethany College has named Liz Blake its first-ever head coach for women's lacrosse, Bethany Athletic Director Brian Rose announced today. Bethany is expected to begin varsity competition in the spring of 2019.
"We are thrilled to name Liz our first head women's lacrosse coach in Bethany history," said Rose. "From the very beginning of the search process, she was at the top of the search committee's list. And with Liz having a year to work with players on campus and recruit quality student-athletes to Bethany, I think she is going to have a very strong foundation in place when we take the field for our first game."
Blake comes to Bethany from Concordia University-Chicago where she had been a graduate assistant women's lacrosse coach since 2015. She was instrumental in preparing the program for its inaugural season in 2016 and oversaw a squad that improved from a winless opening season to go 6-11 in the second year of the program's existence.
"I would like to thank Brian Rose, Abigail Hoard and the rest of the search committee for giving me the opportunity to start the women's lacrosse program at Bethany," Blake said. "I am extremely passionate about growing the sport and look forward to the challenge of building the program from the ground up."
"I am thrilled to become a part of the Bethany community and look forward to building a team that provides student-athletes with an excellent academic experience, as well as the opportunity to play on a competitive team," she continued. "I would also like to thank Concordia-Chicago for being a wonderful and supportive athletics department, especially Coach Brian Patterson, who helped me gain the experience and tools needed to help me move forward in my professional development."
Prior to Concordia-Chicago, Blake served as the assistant women's lacrosse coach at Bridgewater College in Virginia during the 2014-15 academic year where she aided in all facets of the program and was responsible for the development of five all-conference players.
The Eldersburg, Maryland native started 31 of 33 games on defense for two years at Bridgewater, leading the Eagles in draw controls during her sophomore season. She transferred to McDaniel College in 2012 and played in 15 games over two seasons for the Green Terror. Blake played both goalie and defense and was a member of McDaniel's 2013 team that reached the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Championship Game.
Blake's coaching career began in 2011 when she returned to Chapelgate Christian Academy and led her former high school team to a league championship. She has also coached at the club level for the Rebels Lacrosse Club in Maryland, V3 Lacrosse in Virginia and the American Youth Lacrosse Association (AYLA) in Illinois.
Blake recently earned her master's degree in sports leadership from Concordia-Chicago and earned her bachelor's degree in exercise science from McDaniel in 2014.
