Women’s Lacrosse: Miller named UVA assistant coach

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

Virginia women’s lacrosse head coach Sonia LaMonica announced the addition of Kerrigan Miller to her staff as an assistant coach. Miller joins Michael LaMonica as UVA’s two assistants.

Miller spent the 2023 season with LaMonica as an assistant coach at Towson, helping the Tigers to an 11-7 season. Prior to joining LaMonica’s staff at Towson she was a graduate assistant and director of operations for the undefeated national champion North Carolina Tar Heels in 2022.  During that run, she helped guide UNC to a 22-0 record with a 66.6 percent draw control win rate.

A former No. 1 recruit in the nation from Bayport-Blue Point High School in Bayport, N.Y., and two-time Pac-12 Midfielder of the Year, Miller spent the 2021 season leading UNC to Championship Weekend in Towson. Starting all 21 games in the UNC midfield, Miller notched 21 goals and 41 draw controls, helping the team to a 20-1 record.

Currently, Miller is playing professionally in Athletes Unlimited and has been a member of the USA Women’s Senior National Training Team the past two years.

Previous to UNC, Miller was the top recruit in the nation in the high school class of 2016, heading to USC.  There she earned 2018 and 2019 Pac-12 Midfielder of the Year, 2019 Pac-12 Tournament MVP and 2017 MPSF Freshman of the Year, twice being named an All-American.  Leading USC to the 2019 Pac-12 Tournament and regular-season title, Miller tallied 104 goals, 120 caused turnovers, 158 grounds balls and 157 draw controls in her career for the Women of Troy.

Miller earned her undergraduate degree at USC in 2020 with a bachelor of arts in communications, minoring in sports media industries. She earned her  master’s degree in sport administration from North Carolina in 2022.

Michael LaMonica spent 13 seasons as an assistant with wife, Sonia, at Towson. LaMonica guided offensive threats Blair Pearre and Kaitlin Thornton as they scored 100 goals to move up on the program’s top 20 all-time scoring list.

During his Towson tenure, LaMonica coached four first-team Colonial Athletic Association attackers Andi Raymond (2012-204), Ashleigh Rohrback (2013-14), Natalie Sulmonte (2017-19) and Emily Gillingham (2018). Carly Tellekamp scored 100 goals over a two-year period (2017-18). Sam Brookhart set the single-season assist mark with 55 helpers in 2017 and sits atop the all-time assist list with 97 helpers, six more than Rohrback.

LaMonica was a four-year starter at midfield at Maryland from 1999 to 2002. He earned all-Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) honors as a junior and finished his career with 68 goals and 14 assists. LaMonica also had 90 career ground balls and five game winning goals.

LaMonica continued his lacrosse career after graduating from Maryland. He was a member of Major League Lacrosse for two seasons, playing for the New Jersey Pride, Denver Outlaws and San Francisco Dragons.

LaMonica also has international experience as he helped the United States Under-19 National Team win a world championship in Australia during the summer of 1999. He finished the seven-game tournament with five goals and five assists. LaMonica served as an assistant coach at the Women’s World Cup in Canada during the summer of 2013. He helped his wife, Sonia, and team Australia earn a bronze medal at the event.

LaMonica served as the offensive coordinator at Calvert Hall College High School immediately after graduating from Maryland. He was also a volunteer assistant for the Mount St. Mary’s women’s lacrosse team in 2010 and a coach for the LXM Pro Tour Baltimore in 2011.