Emily Hopkins enters her 10th season as the head lacrosse coach at Slippery Rock University in 2017.
In her first nine seasons, Hopkins took a Rock program that went 0-17 in 2008 to a school record for wins in a single season with a 12-5 record in 2012. She has a .500 or better record in five of the last six seasons, owns a 55-46 record since 2011 and is 67-85 overall in her career.
Hopkins inherited a program in 2008 that was just one-year old after SRU reinstated lacrosse in 2007. After going winless in her first campaign, she led Slippery Rock to an increased win total over the next five seasons. The team recorded five wins in 2009, seven in 2010 and tied the school record for wins in a season in 2011 with 11, before breaking the record in 2012 with a 12-5 finish. The 2013 squad finished with an even 8-8 record and the 2014 club finished at 6-11 overall. SRU rebounded from its subpar 2014 season by producing another winning year in 2015 at 9-8 and followed that up with a matching 9-8 mark in 2016.
During her time at Slippery Rock, Hopkins has coached 17 All-Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference selections, eight all-region honorees and one All-America choice (Amy Halls in 2011). Five SRU players have been chosen to participate in the annual IWLCA North/South Senior All-Star Game under Hopkins (Halls, Casey Quinn, Paige Costantino, Erin Wilcox and Jordan Wagner). One of those players, Erin Wilcox, was named the MVP of the showcase game in 2016 after scoring a pair of goals to help the South team to a win.
Off the field, SRU lacrosse has been a mainstay in the IWLCA's team and individual academic award lists. Since 2008, Slippery Rock has placed 15 players on the IWLCA All-Academic Team. Additionally, SRU lacrosse has had two Capital One Academic All-District selections and one Capital One Academic All-American; Halls in 2012.
Halls and Quinn are the school's top two leading scorers of all-time, both posting more than 200 career points. They became the first two players to be named to the IWLCA North/South Senior All-Star game since the program was reinstated in 2007.
Hopkins recruiting efforts shined through during the 2009 season when freshmen led the team in scoring, most notably Halls, who broke the school’s single-season scoring record with 57 goals. Another solid recruiting year in 2010 saw three freshmen break into the starting lineup, bolstering what would become the best team at SRU since the program returned in 2007.
In both 2009 and 2010, Hopkins led Halls and defender Brianne Dishong to All-Conference honors. The postseason accomplishments reached a new level in 2010, when Dishong became the first SRU player to earn All-Region honors in the four years since the program returned. The trend continued in 2011 when Halls and Quinn both garnered All-PSAC and IWLCA All-Region accolades. In 2014, Hopkins coached two All-PSAC performers in Morgan Pettit and Katilyn Hafdell. The 2015 season saw Costantino and Sarah Morris earn All-Region accolades to go with spots on the All-PSAC team. They were joined on the All-League team by teammates Erin Wilcox and Kaytlin Callaghan. Both Wilcox and Callaghan repeated as All-PSAC selections in 2016 and Wilcox was named to the All-Region squad.
During her first three years with the program, Hopkins also tutored goalie Ashley Winkelspecht, who shattered the SRU career record for saves. Winkelspecht also owns the PSAC single-season record for saves. In 2011 Hopkins coached freshman Kat Elkins who won 11 games and made 137 saves in her first season.
Hopkins joined The Rock staff as assistant field hockey and lacrosse coach in August 2007 and was elevated to the position of head lacrosse coach three months later.
Hopkins, who relinquished the assistant field hockey coaching duties to focus her attention on the lacrosse program, succeeded Stacey Hart as The Rock’s lacrosse coach.
Hopkins is acutely familiar with neophyte programs. As head coach at Tri-State University, she laid the groundwork for the school’s first intercollegiate season of competition, which ironically took place the spring she began her first season as head coach at Slippery Rock. She also served as assistant sports information director while at Tri-State.
Prior to being named as head coach at Tri-State, she served as head coach and athletic administration intern at Nichols College during the 2005-06 academic year.
She has also served as assistant coach at Minnechaug Regional (Mass.) High School, preseason goalie consultant and coach of the Peak Performance Goalie School at Springfield College, as a coach at the Players Choice Summer Camp in Smithfield, R.I., and as an athletic administration intern at South Hadley (Mass.) High School.
Hopkins earned both her bachelor’s (2004) and master’s (2006) degrees from Springfield, where she played three seasons of lacrosse and one season of soccer.
She led her lacrosse teams to an NCAA playoff berth in 2002 and ECAC playoff berths in 2001 and 2003.
A two-year starter as a goalkeeper, Hopkins concluded her collegiate playing career ranked fourth in Springfield history with 346 saves. She had a school-record 8.17 goals against average in 2002, when she made 184 saves, the sixth-best mark in school history.
Prior to attending Springfield, Hopkins attended Union College in Schenectady, N.Y., where she participated in one season of soccer and one season of lacrosse. She was part of New York state championship teams in both sports during the 1999-2000 academic year.
Hopkins resides in Slippery Rock with her husband, Kyle. The couple has a son named Parker and a daughter named Addy.
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| Emily Hopkins Coaching Records |
| Year |
Wins |
Losses |
| 2008 |
0 |
17 |
| 2009 |
5 |
12 |
| 2010 |
7 |
10 |
| 2011 |
11 |
6 |
| 2012 |
12 |
5 |
| 2013 |
8 |
8 |
| 2014 |
6 |
11 |
| 2015 |
9 |
8 |
| 2016 |
9 |
8 |
| Career |
67 |
85 |
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