Michael LaMonica
LaMonica joins Virginia for the 2023-24 season as an assistant coach after spending 13 seasons at Towson as an assistant coach.
In 2022, LaMonica helped lead the team in one of the toughest non-conference schedules in the country, featuring nine teams mentioned in the ILWomen/IWLCA poll at some point over the season. In CAA play, the team dominated, going 5-1 to clinch the No. 1 seed in the 2022 CAA Tournament for the first time since 2014.
Among several career and season bests, 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. He also led Blair Pearre (first team All-CAA), Kerri Thornton (first team All-CAA), Milana Zizakovic (second team All-CAA/CAA All-Rookie), Halley Koras (CAA All-Rookie) to conference postseason praise.
In 2021, LaMonica converted transfer Nikki Sliwak to attack. The graduate student responded by finishing second on the team in scoring with 55 points (31g, 24a). She scored a career-high five goals against William & Mary, handed out a career-best four assists two times and was the only player to have a point in all 18 games.
During his Towson tenure, LaMonica has coached four First-Team Colonial Athletic Association attackers and two CAA Player of the Year: Andi Raymond, 2014 CAA Player of the Year (2012-2014), Ashleigh Rohrback, 2013 CAA Player of the Year (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, which ranked 2nd in the country and sits atop the all-time assist list with 97 helpers, six more than Rohrback.
The 2018 season saw a 16-5 record as LaMonica helped lead the Tigers to victory over No. 4 Penn State, No. 6 Florida and No. 25 Johns Hopkins. Towson fell to James Madison (2018 National Champions) in overtime in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Championship and went on to play two rounds in the NCAA Tournament including a 21-17 shootout vs Northwestern in the second round.
LaMonica’s fifth season with the Tigers full-time was highlighted by wins vs No. 10 Notre Dame and No. 19 Elon a 4th CAA Championship as well as a first-round appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
In the first four years spent as an assistant, LaMonica helped guide an offense that averaged 9.5 goals per game while capturing three CAA titles and making three NCAA Tournament appearances, including a second round game against Penn in 20116.
LaMonica was a four-year starter at midfield for the University of 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 playing for the New Jersey Pride, Denver Outlaws and San Francisco Dragons.
LaMonica also has international experience as a member of the United States Under-19 National Team. That team won 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 brings a wealth of coaching experience. In addition to his time at Towson, he 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.
LaMonica is the older brother of former Terp teammate Dan LaMonica and Tiger women’s lacrosse player Jackie LaMonica and the son of legendary Friend School coach Tom LaMonica and former long time Towson gymnastics assistant coach Lynda Filbert.
He is married to the current Cavalier women’s lacrosse coach, Sonia LaMonica, and the couple has a pair of young sons, Luca and Bodhi and a daughter, Marley.