Kevin Shupp will be in his second year as a graduate assistant on the Men’s Lacrosse coaching staff at Piedmont College during the 2015 campaign. Shupp came to Piedmont after completing a four-year playing career for the Crusaders where he was a two-time captain for the men’s lacrosse team while also competing for the school’s men’s club ice hockey team as well.
In Shupp’s first and only season on staff, Piedmont posted a 6-8 overall record which featured two highlight wins, one at home and one on the road. On February 22, it was the hometown fans who got the thrill as Spencer Ortis broke a 12-12 tie with powerhouse Transylvania University to score the game-winning goal with just a dozen seconds remaining on the clock in the 4th.
Later in the season, it would be the Lions faithful who followed the team on the road that saw the program’s first-ever overtime win as Piedmont overtook USA South member Methodist University 12-11 in Fayetteville. This time around, it was Taylor Carter who scored the game winner with 2:40 left in OT against the Monarchs and put Piedmont in a winning bus headed home to Demorest.
2014 was also a time of success for Lions lacrosse in the classroom as an all-time high 17 were honored on the USA South’s Academic All-Conference listing.
Shupp joined Lions Head Coach Pete Manderano after the 2013 team went 6-9 including three straight victories to open the 2013 season, just the second season in the young program’s history after it was founded in 2010.
As the defensive mind on the staff, Shupp helped trim the Lions’ goals against average from the previous season while also helping to raise the team’s save percentage as well. The 2014 team returns all three who saw time in goal under the Lions assistant and looks to improve off the first-year numbers established as the baseline under Shupp.
Shupp brings a wealth of experience in the sport to Piedmont after serving during the 2013 season as the Assistant Men’s Lacrosse Coach for Union County College, a member of the National Junior College Athletic Association located in Cranford, NJ. Working primarily as a defensive and goalie specialist, Shupp assisted in almost every facet of the program analyzing practice and game film while also scouting opposing teams for Head Coach Jay Roussey.
In his only year with the junior college program in Jersey, Kevin was a recruiting force helping to bring in a class of 20 new student-athletes as the Owls posted a 7-10 record on the year winning two of their final three contests under the first-year coaching staff. Shupp specifically worked with the defense and goalies in his time with Union County College with his impact coming immediately as his Owls defense help defeat top ten ranked Finger Lakes in just his third game with the team on March 10, 2013.
Coach Shupp also has coaching experience outside the college ranks serving as an instructor and goalie specialist with Building Blocks Lacrosse, an academy in New Jersey that provides year-round training to youth lacrosse players ages 4-18. Having started with the club in 2012, Shupp spent most of his time working with goalies in small groups to improve technique through foundational drills designed to develop the elite level player.
As a former multi-sport athlete himself, Kevin also spent six years from 2006-2012 as a camp counselor in both ice hockey and lacrosse with the Cranford High School Cougars, Shupp's alma mater. Working with boys ages 5-14, Shupp spent his half dozen years working with the prestigious Jersey high school camp developing a knack for coaching youth lacrosse and hockey players in game situations while also teaching the basic principles of the game to the Cougar campers.
Shupp also spent his high school days playing with the Cranford Cougars as a dual-sport athlete playing both varsity hockey and lacrosse with his leadership qualities recognized early on as exemplified by his captaincy selection in each sport. During his days with Cranford High School, Kevin was a an All-State honoree as well as a two-time All-Kimber Conference First Team selection and was named to the Senior Select All-Star Game in 2008 while being honored as the Defensive MVP in back-to-back season to end his Cougar career.
Following his high school days, Shupp moved on to Alvernia University, a NCAA Division III member competing in the Middle Atlantic Conference, to spend his collegiate lacrosse playing days. A four-year starter for the Crusaders, Kevin was named a captain in his final two seasons and named MAC Goalie of the Week twice with one award coming in the 2010 season and the other coming the following year.
Also named to the MAC All-Sportsmanship Team in 2011, Shupp was twice voted Team MVP with the two honors coming in his final two seasons with Alvernia. Shupp ranks first all-time in saves for the Crusaders with 765 from 2009-12 and also tops the list in shutout performances. Kevin is 3rd in the program's history in save percentage with a .543 showing, fourth all-time in goals against average, and third in games played with 61, just four shy of the all-time record at Alvernia.
Shupp dots the Crusader record book more sitting at 7th all-time in ground balls with 135 in his four seasons and tops the list in goalie minutes played nearly tripling the next closest individual mark. Also owning the best season goals against average in the program's history with a 10.59 mark in his final season with the program which began in 2002, Shupp led his Crusaders to 14 of the club's 29 total wins in just his four years alone.
Kevin was also an active member of the Cranford community serving as a Cranford Hockey Club Coach from 2010 on while also working with the Cranford Lacrosse Club as a Goalie Coach since 2006.
Shupp graduated from Alvernia University in Reading, PA with his Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice in May of 2012 and has been pursuing his Master of Business Administration from Piedmont College while serving as a graduate assistant with the Lions' lacrosse program assisting Coach Manderano in every facet of the program.
