Erin de la Paz named Head Girls Lacrosse Coach at St. Mary's Ryken

St. Mary's Ryken (SMR) announces the hiring of Erin de la Paz as Head Girls Lacrosse Coach. Coach de la Paz takes over coaching the team effective immediately. 

"My immediate goal is to create a family with the team, " said Coach  de la Paz. "I hope to create a community and family with both the players and their families. I want to build trust with the community as well as become a mentor for the players through both their academic and athletic careers."

"We are so excited to have Coach de la Paz with us," said Athletic Director, Jon Lombardo. "We are truly blessed to have someone with her experience and background not just as a coach, but an educator and mentor. She has experience as a head coach in the public school system, has a true passion for building a transformational experience through clear expectations, recruiting at the youth level and a vision for what a championship culture in the WCAC looks like for our Girls Lacrosse program. Erin is retaining a great group of assistant coaches as well as bringing a great group of new assistant coaches that will complement each other very well. We are really excited about this coaching staff as leaders of the SMR vision and mission through Girls Lacrosse."

Coach de la Paz has previously coached at Ledyard High School in Ledyard, CT, Chopticon High School and most recently for the Southern Maryland Jets club lacrosse program. As a student-athlete, she played lacrosse at North Caroline Wesleyan. 

"I am excited to be a female head coach for this group of student-athletes," Coach de La Paz said. "It’s important for the girls to have a role model to look up to and I hope to be that for them. I also hope to ensure that each player feels like an equal shareholder in the future of the team, this is their team and I hope each girl puts into it what they want out of it. I also hope to create a positive environment for young girls to flourish and grow into young women that succeed both athletically as well as academically. As a coach I want to find the best athletes but I am also looking for the top student-athletes."

 If have any questions about the SMR Girls Lacrosse Program, please contact Athletic Director, Jon Lombardo at jonathan.lombardo@smrhs.org.