Now in her second season on the Piedmont College women’s lacrosse coaching staff is Lauren Davis who comes to Demorest after a brilliant four-year playing career at Edinboro University. Davis operates under the direction of Piedmont Head Coach Emily Jacquette who enters her third season at the helm of the Lady Lion program.
Davis’ first season on board saw unprecedented success as the Lady Lions posted a 14-3 overall record including an undefeated 8-0 mark in the USA South during the regular season which earned PC the league’s regular season crown and the #1 seed in the year-end championship tourney. Though success like what the 2014 team accomplished could be considered great on its own, the even more impressive feat was that the success came in just the second-ever season for Piedmont women’s lacrosse which began competition with the 2013 campaign.
| "What they're saying about Coach Davis..." |
"I am excited about Lauren joining our program. Her enthusiasm for the game and her experience playing for a start up program like Piedmont's will be a great asset to our program's future. She is committed to giving back to the sport that has given her so much and I believe she will be a great example for our players to look up to."
-Emily Jacquette, Piedmont College
Head Women's Lacrosse Coach |
During her first year, Davis saw the Lady Lions put seven on the USA South All-Conference team as well including newcomer Kayla Jones who was named the league’s Rookie of the Year after the Lawrenceville native took Rookie of the Week honors four times in five weeks during the regular season. Jones tied for the second-most goals & assists in the regular season and was a major reason why the Piedmont attack ranked as one of the best in the country as the Lady Lions had the 5th highest scoring offense in the nation at season’s end.
The national statistical accolades did not end there though as Piedmont was also 7th in total points amongst all Division III members with 479 and posted the 6th best scoring margin outscoring the opposition by an average just shy of 10 goals per game. Individually, several Lady Lions ranked in the top 75 of various statistical categories led by Maggie McDaniel who ranked 20th in the nation in assists per game and 22nd in total assists.
A four-year starter in defense during her collegiate playing days at Edinboro University in Pennsylvania, Davis spent the 2009 through 2012 seasons on the field for the Division II program starting all but two matches in her time with the Fighting Scots. Davis experienced her best statistical season in her junior year with the team collecting 18 ground balls and causing 14 turnovers including a season-high four giveaways in a 15-2 victory over Urbana University during a return trip home for the Ohio native.
Davis is no stranger to a young program like Piedmont as she helped build the Edinboro women’s lacrosse program as a member of the first recruiting class for the Fighting Scots who fielded a team in the sport for the first time in the spring of 2009. Leading her team to a program best seven wins in her senior season, Davis made a splash early on in her career leading the team with 53 draw controls in her freshman season for Head Coach Kevin Cooke.
While competing as a Fighting Scot, Davis was named an Academic Honoree by Edinboro and also served as the President of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) from 2010-2012. The two-time team captain was also a four-time recipient of the ALANI (African American, Latino, Asian, Native American, and International) Award.
During the summers of 2011 and 2012, Davis picked up coaching experience that she brings with her to Demorest serving as a camp coach for Cooke at Edinboro where she conducted and supervised practice sessions while assisting in the monitoring of athletes present at the Fighting Scots’ camp. Davis also helped organize the field set up and maintenance for the summer events gaining valuable experience in the operation of a collegiate program.
When traveling home from college in Pennsylvania, Davis worked as an Indoor Lacrosse Instructor at Sport Ohio where she continued to refine her practice development capabilities. Refining individual and team techniques during the winter session, Davis worked for Sport Ohio from 2008 to 2012 while also finishing out her collegiate playing days.
Prior to enrolling at Edinboro, Davis was a four-year starter for the lacrosse team at Hillard Darby High School in Hillard, OH earning second team All-OCC honors as a senior and leading her team to a regional final in both 2005 and 2006. The daughter of Lisa and Karl Davis, Lauren comes from a family of athletes as her younger brother Ian is a rising senior for the volleyball team at NAIA member Lourdes University, a sport that Lauren also played at Hillard Darby.
Graduating from Edinboro in May of 2013, Davis earned her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a concentration in financial administration. Having served also as a finance intern with Catrabone, Catrabone and Associates in Erie, Davis has been pursuing her Master of Business Administration from the graduate school at Piedmont while serving as a graduate assistant for Coach Jacquette.
