Kristen Carr, a two-time gold medalist for Team USA, has been named Towson University’s Women’s Lacrosse head coach. Carr, who was signed to a five-year contract, will begin her new position August 1, 2023.
The Baltimore native, who goes by Cookie, has made assistant coaching stops at North Carolina, Delaware, Stanford, Ohio State and Johns Hopkins since an All-American playing career at North Carolina.
“Kristen Carr emerged from this very competitive process as a tremendous fit for Towson Women’s Lacrosse,” Eigenbrot said. “She is the right person to build on the foundation of this program and take it to the next level.”
The Towson Women’s Lacrosse program has won seven Colonial Athletic Conference championships and earned 11 trips to the NCAA Tournament since 2005.
Carr has been Director of Girls Lacrosse at The St. James, a nationally recognized club program in Northern Virginia, since last August, and is an assistant coach for the United States U-18 development national team.
“I am grateful for the opportunity and want to thank Steve Eigenbrot and Casey Cegles for their belief in me and thank everyone for the help along the way to get me to this point,” Carr said. “Towson is a sleeping giant. There are great facilities, great support, great people and you are in the mecca of lacrosse. I truly believe that we will be able to continue to build on the tradition and history that the previous coaching staffs have done and bridge the gap to and contend for those championships. I cannot wait to get going.”
Carr was a member of the Johns Hopkins coaching staff in 2021 and 2022, running the Blue Jays offense and working with the draw specialists. She mentored All-Big Ten players Aurora Cordingley and Shelby Harrison as Hopkins made back-to-back NCAA appearances.
She spent the 2020 season at Ohio State as associate head coach, where she oversaw the Buckeyes defensive unit and was the recruiting coordinator. Ohio State opened the COVID-19 pandemic shortened season with four victories in its first five games, allowing 9.5 goals per game in the wins.
Carr served as the defensive coordinator at Stanford for four years (2016-19), tutoring three Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) All-Americans. During her tenure, Stanford ranked in the Top-25 in scoring defense three times, including a top 10 finish during the 2018 season. The Cardinal was 55-22 with Carr on staff. In addition to her coaching responsibilities, she functioned as director of recruiting and director of camps and clinics.
Before Stanford, Carr spent three seasons at Delaware (2012-14). While in Newark she served as the offensive coordinator, increasing the team’s shooting percentage from 44.1 percent to 46.8 percent and helped the Blue Hens to the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Tournament in 2014. She also assisted with strength and conditioning, service initiatives, player development, equipment and sponsorship, travel and fundraising efforts.
A 2010 graduate of North Carolina with a degree in exercise and sport science, Carr began her coaching career as a volunteer assistant with the Tar Heels in 2011. Working as a draw coach, assistant defensive coordinator and goalie coach, she helped UNC to a 15-6 record and a trip to the NCAA Championship Weekend.
“I am really blessed to have learned from each head coach I worked for along the way,” Carr said. “There are so many intricacies into coaching and I am excited to bring them all together with Towson.”
An IWLCA All-American defensive midfielder, Carr helped the Tar Heels to a four-year record of 60-20 and four NCAA Tournament appearances, including a national runner-up finish in 2009 and a berth in the semifinals in 2010. As a senior in 2010, she earned First Team All-America and First Team All-Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) honors when she was one of the nation’s top draw control specialists and led the nation’s third-ranked defense that allowed just 7.25 goals per game.
In 81 career games, she scored 21 goals with nine assists while setting a UNC career record in draw controls. Carr was also a member of the Carolina Leadership Academy, achieving 3DL Leader of Distinction status from 2009 to 2010, the most prestigious leadership honor on a varsity team.
Carr spent 14 years as a starting defender on the U.S. National Women’s Lacrosse team – winning gold medals at the 2013 and 2017 Federation of International Lacrosse (FIL) Women’s World Cup championships.
“Cookie has an incredible breadth of experiences in the world of women’s lacrosse – from starting on the college stage to excelling on the USA National Team and as a professional,” Eigenbrot added. “She has learned from and coached with some of the best and brightest minds in the game and we are excited for her to lead our program forward.”
Carr currently plays in the Athletes Unlimited women’s lacrosse professional league. Now in its third season, the league features 56 players, including United States National Team members and former collegiate stars. Six games will be contested in each of the four weeks of the season between July 30 and Aug. 13 at USA Lacrosse headquarters in Sparks, Maryland.
A 2006 graduate of nearby Mercy High School, Carr was a three-sport star in lacrosse, soccer and basketball. She earned a Master of Business Administration from the University of Delaware in 2015.
