Elmira College Athletics

Lauren Silva begins her fourth year as the head field hockey coach and assistant women's lacrosse coach in 2018-19 academic year.

During Silva's first season as head coach in 2015, the Soaring Eagles posted five wins, marking the program's highest win total since 2012. Additionally, EC's three-game midseason win streak was the longest since the 2002. At the season's end, senior forward Alli Gilbert '16 garnered a spot on the Empire 8 All-Conference First Team, the program's first player selected to the league's top team since Jalene McCulloch '10 in 2008. At the end of 2017, Atu Machika '18 earned an E8 All-Conference First-Team award, making Machika the only player in program history to earn four consecutive year-end awards from the league office.

Before coming to Elmira, Silva spent two years in Salem, VA as the assistant field hockey coach at Roanoke College. During her time with the Maroons, Silva played a major role in the turnaround of the field hockey program as she helped guide Roanoke to an eight-win season, the most wins the program had seen in 10 years. 
 
She coached five All-Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) honorees, including one First-Team, two Second-Team, and two Third-Team recipients. Her positive effect on Roanoke’s field hockey players goes beyond the field as she saw 22 of her players named to the NFHCA Collegiate Academic Squad, seven receive NFHCA Collegiate Scholars of Distinction, and she helped the team receive NFHCA National Academic Team accolades in 2014.
 
Silva’s coaching experience is not limited to Roanoke, however, as she has served as an Assistant Coach with the USA Field Hockey Futures at Duke University and Liberty University. 
 
A 2011 graduate of American International College in Springfield, Massachusetts, Silva was a two-sport athlete, competing in both field hockey and lacrosse. She was a four-year member of the field hockey team and a two-year member of the lacrosse team.
 
During her time with the Yellow Jackets, who compete at the NCAA Division II level, Silva earned NFHCA National Academic Squad honors, was named to the Northeast-10 Conference (NE-10) Annual Commissioner’s Honor Roll, and was selected to the NE-10 All-Conference Academic Team.
 
Additionally, Silva has served as a Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) advisor for the past two years and has coordinated several volunteer events in conjunction with this leadership position.  Her involvement with SAAC began as a student at American International College where she was AIC’s Institutional Chair, NE-10 Conference Chair, and eventually became an NCAA Division II National Delegate.

In December of 2017, Silva graduated as a member of the 43rd class of the Women Coaches Academy (WCA), an educational training seminar for females coaches across all three divisions that is sponsored by the NCAA and the Alliance of Women Coaches. The WCA is designed to help women coaches learn advanced professional development skills and non-sport specific strategies that directly affect their personal and team success.