SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – Slippery Rock University director of athletics Roberta Page has announced the promotion of Taryn Burkholder to the permanent role of head women's lacrosse coach, effective immediately.
 
Burkholder served as the program's interim head coach throughout the 2021-22 academic year, including the 2022 spring lacrosse season, and will now have the interim tag removed while being promoted to the permanent head coaching position.
 
"We did a national search for the permanent head coach position and it became clear through that process that Taryn was the right person for the job," said Page. "She brings a terrific energy to our Athletics Department and she did a great job leading that program this year on an interim basis. We're thrilled to give her the chance to continue leading Rock lacrosse into the future."
 
The Buffalo-area native and Niagara University alumna will enter her third year at Slippery Rock in 2022-23 after coming to The Rock first as an assistant coach prior to the 2021 season.
 
"I am honored and thankful for the opportunity to continue to lead this program," said Burkholder. "We have strived to work towards creating a high caliber of play on the field and a championship culture in our program and I am humbled to be given the chance to continue working toward those goals with these young women. I look forward to helping them find their true potential, both on and off the field. I would like to thank Dr. Page and Dr. Behre for putting their trust in me to lead this program and I would like to thank our players for their continued dedication and diligence towards reaching our common goals."
 
Burkholder led Slippery Rock to just its sixth 10-win season in program history in 2022 and doubled the team's win total from 2021. The Rock posted a 10-7 overall record to place fourth in the PSAC Western Division. Burkholder became just the fourth coach in SRU program history to lead a team to 10 or more wins and just the second coach to ever accomplish that feat in her first year leading the program.
 
That 10-7 overall record was dangerously close to an even better mark, as The Rock lost three games by just one goal and five games by three or fewer goals in 2022.
 
Burkholder's 2022 squad outscored opponents 257-165 to finish the year averaging 15.12 goals per game, the most by any Slippery Rock team in program history. Her team established single-season SRU records for goals (257), points (389), assists (132), shots (604) and draw controls (293) in her first season leading the unit.
 
Under Burkholder, senior Emily Benham broke the single-season scoring records for points and assists and junior Charleigh Rondeau broke the single-season record for draw controls.
 
Benham, Rondeau and Taylor Baiers were all named to first team All-PSAC honors and Jamie DiCarlo was named to second team All-PSAC honors. Benham went on to earn second team All-Region honors.
 
In the classroom, Benham and Rondeau were both named to CoSIDA Academic All-District honors with Rondeau adding an Academic All-America award and a PSAC Top 10 honor as one of the top academic student-athletes in Division II. The Rock lacrosse team combined to post a 3.653 cumulative grade point average after the 2021-22 academic year under Burkholder.
 
Burkholder came to Slippery Rock in 2021 after serving as head coach at Division III Morrisville State in New York for three years from 2017-20, where she led the program to two conference titles and two trips to the NCAA Tournament. Prior to taking over at Morrisville, Burkholder spent two years as the head coach at Muskingum University in Ohio, where she also served as a physical education lecturer and taught five classes.
 
Before her two years at Muskingum, Burkholder spent the 2015 season as an assistant at Morrisville State, helping the team to a conference title and NCAA Tournament appearance, and spent the 2014 season at Buffalo State as an assistant, helping the program to a winning record against a schedule the featured games against six teams ranked in the top 20 nationally.
 
Burkholder played Division I lacrosse and was a two-year captain as a defender at Niagara University, graduating in 2012 with a degree in sports management.
 
She began her coaching career at her Alma Mater and worked as an assistant at Niagara for the 2013 season before joining the staff at Buffalo State as an assistant coach.
 
In addition to her collegiate coaching roles, the West Seneca, New York native has also been active in the lacrosse community near her hometown, coaching at the Pure Heart Lacrosse Club and Hamburg Knights Lacrosse Club in the Buffalo area.
 
 
 
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