Tori Nelson, a former standout at Division II Tiffin University, joined the Elmira College women’s lacrosse coaching staff as an assistant coach in January of 2019.
A native of Deephaven, Minnesota, Nelson joined the Soaring Eagles after a stellar career with the Dragons. She graduated in 2017 as one of Tiffin’s all-time leading scorers, ranking third in goals (174) and tied for fifth in points (215). She also collected more draw controls during her four years than any other Dragon in program history (310). As an attacker/midfielder, Nelson was a three-time Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) selection and an All-North Region Third Team honoree as a junior in 2016. As a draw specialist, Nelson was twice ranked in the nation’s top 10. In 2016, she recorded a career-high 121 draws controls and was third in Division II with 6.72 draws per game.
With Nelson, Tiffin won a program-record 12 games during the 2015 and 2016 seasons and qualified for the GLIAC Tournament on three occasions. Nelson received All-Tournament Team honors after the Dragons reached the conference title game for a second consecutive season.
Following graduation, Nelson began her coaching career as an assistant at Alma College, an NCAA Division III institution in Alma, Michigan. As the team’s offensive and draw coordinator, Nelson helped the Scots, members of the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA), increase per-game averages for goals and draws, and mentored two All-MIAA selections. Off of the field, the Scots women’s lacrosse team was recognized for their charitable efforts with an IWLCA Team Community Awareness Award, while the Alma athletic department as a whole was Division III’s recipient of the 2018 NCAA Team Works Helper Helper Community Service Competition Award.
Nelson earned a Bachelor of Criminal Justice in Forensic Psychology from Tiffin in 2017. She garnered several academic honors during her undergraduate years, including IWLCA Zag Sports Academic Honor Roll (2016-17) and a Division II Athletics Directors Association (D2 ADA) Academic Achievement Award (2017). She’s currently pursuing a master’s in Management at Elmira.
