Liz Bereit is in her second season as a graduate assistant coach for Piedmont College with the women’s lacrosse program after a successful debut season that included a trip to the USA South Championship Game. For the Lady Lions, it was the third straight trip to the title game as Bereit helped PC to another double-digit win season in just its fourth year of existence.
Coming into the season with a 40-9 record in their first three years of existence, Piedmont posted a 10-7 season in Bereit’s first year on staff including a 4-2 record in conference action. Piedmont would go on to finish as the runner-up in the USA South Championship Tournament in 2016 after posting a third place finish in the league’s regular season standings.
Five Lady Lions would earn All-Conference status in Bereit’s first season on staff including a 1st Team honorees Kayla Jones and Julianna Surgent. Three others earned 2nd Team status including repeat honorees Mckynsey Douglas, Maggie McDaniel, and Francesca Malabad.
Bereit helped Piedmont finish 2nd statistically in the USA South in both goals scored as well as goals against average getting it done at both ends of the field. Piedmont also ranked 26th in the country in draw controls per game and 36th in points per game while Kayla Jones placed 18th in Division III in free position percentage.
Bereit brings very familiar experience with her to Piedmont having been named the Rookie of the Year in the USA South Athletic Conference during her playing days at Shenandoah University before the Hornets made the jump to the Old Dominion Athletic Conference in her sophomore season. Most recently, Bereit was named a Capital One Academic All-American 3rd Team selection, the third in the women's lacrosse program history at Shenandoah.
Captain for her final two years with the Hornets, Bereit enjoyed team success as well with the program as Shenandoah posted a 48-22 overall record during her four years including a dominant 30-7 mark in conference play. Twice Bereit helped lead her team to the conference championship game as well, once in the USA South during her debut campaign with the club and again in the ODAC just a year later.
In three of her four seasons, Bereit's Hornets posted a 7-game winning streak as the first such streak came during her freshman year. Then a youngster in midfield for Shenandoah, Bereit sparked the stretch by leading her team on the offensive end scoring 23 of her 31 goals on the season during the 7-game win streak.
It was that type of performance that helped Bereit earn USA South Rookie of the Year honors and a 1st Team All-Conference spot, the first of two 1st Team All-conference honors in her decorated career. Bereit would be named a 2nd Team honoree in both her sophomore and junior seasons after Shendoah made the jump to the ODAC.
Bereit was also a two-time All-Tournament honoree, first in the 2012 USA South Championships for leading her team all the way to the league's title game against Christopher Newport. Bereit tallied a hattrick in her team's semifinal win over Greensboro before putting up a pair in the title game against Christopher Newport who defeated the Hornets to limit Bereit's team to a runner-up finish.
In 2014, Bereit would earn All-Tournament accolades again needing just six shots to score four goals in the semifinals against Guilford College. In six postseason games over her time with the Hornets, Bereit scored 12 goals for her team while helping Shenandoah to two runner-up finishes.
| "What they're saying about Coach Bereit..." |
"Liz Bereit was one of the most exceptional athletes that I have ever coached. She was a pleasure to coach and left our lacrosse program in much better place than when she arrive. Her presence alone raises the standards of excellence of everyone who is around her by her contagious work ethic, passion and competitive spirit. I know this drive and passion that she had for playing the game of lacrosse is going to translate into her love and passion for coaching the game. She will set a great example for young female student-athletes to push themselves to their full potential on and off the field just like she did as a athlete. Piedmont is lucky to have her and I know she will not only be a great asset to the lacrosse program but to the athletic department as a whole!"
-Lindsey Lutz, Shenandoah University
Head Women's Lacrosse Coach |
Though she excelled in the postseason, Bereit also displayed consistency through the regular season being named the USA South Rookie of the Week an astounding five times in 2012. In the ODAC, Bereit was named the league's Player of the Week four times during her final three years as a collegiate player.
The crowning achievements in a decorated collegiate playing career for Bereit came during her final season as she was named the ODAC Scholar-Athlete of the Year in women's lacrosse and was also named Shenandoah's Female Athlete and Student-Athlete of the Year as well. Also earning Shenandoah's Athletic Director's Award, Bereit was named an IWLCA All-Chesapeake Region 1st Team selection for her efforts in 2015.
Bereit leaves Shenandoah having entered the top ten in every statistical category including scoring where she ranks 2nd all-time for the Hornets. Though she made a name for herself on the offensive end, Bereit showed she could do it all leading the squad in ground balls, draw controls, and caused turnovers d
uring her final season with the team as well.
Bereit also brings coaching experience to her first appointment at the collegiate level as she spent the spring of 2014 as an assistant coach with John Handley High School assisting with the Varsity Girls' Team, a brand new program. Experienced in the sport, Bereit helped the new players develop basic fundamentals while also gaining coaching experience with the high school program.
Prior to her time with John Handley, Bereit was a coach with the Lacrosse Clinic at Body Renew Fitness in Winchester, Virginia where she provided weekly lessons on varying areas of the game. Bereit also worked with the Nike Lacrosse Camp in Latrobe, Pennsylvania and spent four years as a coach with Latrobe Parks and Recreation introducing the game to the youth in the area through camps.
Stellar on the field for the Hornets during her collegiate playing career, Bereit was as committed to her craft in the classroom with multiple academic honors during her time at Shenandoah. In addition to her Capital One Academic All-American honor earned in June, Bereit was a 1st Team Academic All-District honoree and also was named to the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) Academic Honor Roll in 2014.
Bereit was also a member of Beta Gamma Sigma (International Business School Honor Society), Omicron Delta Kappa (National Leadership Society), Phi Epsilon Kappa (National Kinesiology Honor Society), and Alpha Lambda Delta (National Honor Society). The women's lacrosse standout was active on campus as well serving in multiple offices within the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) including a tenure as the President of the organization on campus during her senior year.
Having graduated Summa Cum Laude from Shenandoah just this spring with a Bachelor of Business Administration with a concentration in Sports Management, Bereit will leave Shenandoah a four-time Academic All-Conference honoree as well. W
hile serving on the women's lacrosse coaching staff at PC, Bereit will pursue her Master of Business Administration from the graduate school at Piedmont College.
