MICHELLE HALE
Special to The Leader
Amy Simon has been named the head coach of the Women’s Lacrosse team at Fredonia State. Although this will be her first year as head coach, she has been a familiar face for years.
Simon was a member of the Women’s Lacrosse team for four years under the authority of Chris Case, who is also the women’s soccer head coach. Once she graduated in 2012, she continued to pursue her M.B.A. at Fredonia, where she was a graduate assistant coach for the past two seasons.
During her time as a Blue Devil, Simon earned the title of all-time leading scorer at Fredonia with 242 goals and 286 points. Along with setting records at Fredonia she was named to the Empire Region all-star team by the Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association two times, and to the SUNYAC all-conference team four times.
Simon was named head coach after Case stepped down as head coach after 12 seasons of coaching the Blue Devils.
“I was very grateful to receive this opportunity after being here for six years,” Simon said, “I’m very excited to come back and continue what’s been started with this program.”
In the past three years, the Blue Devils Women’s Lacrosse team has received bids to the NCAA Tournament twice- the first was Simon’s senior year, and the second this past year.
Simon will be the head coach of a few players that she was teammates with while playing her four years at Fredonia. Seniors Marissa Cussins and Katie Glagolev and graduates Katie Kleine and Shelby Depew were all members of the team during Simon’s final season as a collegiate athlete.
“I feel that there is a mutual respect between me and my past teammates which actually made this transition easier knowing that they are good friends of mine,” Simon said.
With Simon being a familiar face to many of the girls on the team, the road to success is becoming more of a reality. The Blue Devils have had positive results in the past seasons with Simon being a member, and will only continue to improve.
“I’m looking forward to this season with Simon as our coach,” said junior Sarah Lindovski, who is a member of both the Women’s Lacrosse and Soccer team, “I think that with her experience as both a player and coach can help us be extremely successful this year.”
Simon will continue to keep the same coaching strategies as Case had. She is greatly influenced by Case’s techniques because she has been around them for six years.
There will be some changes, but only to improve the program.
The incoming class will have an easier adjustment to this big change in the program. Some of the recruits coming in are going to be a big addition to the roster and will help the expectations become reality. Two incoming freshmen will join the roster and the journey to the NCAAs.
From last year’s roster, nine out of eleven starters will be returning, making the acclimation process easier with a bigger returning class to help her adjust.
“It will definitely be different having Simon as our coach instead of my teammate or assistant coach, but I know she will continue to give her best effort to keep our program successful,” said Katie Kleine, a member of the Women’s Lacrosse and Soccer team and also a former teammate of Simon’s.
The season will begin with a home opener in February 2015 against the College of Wooster at University Stadium. This game will mark the not only the beginning of the quest to finals, but also the beginning of another chapter Amy Simon’s lacrosse career.
“I’m ready to pick up where we left off, and I can’t wait to see what this team can achieve this season,” said Simon.