Head Coach Amy Patton
As of June 2013

The 2013 season marked the 21st for head coach Amy Patton at Dartmouth, having led the Big Green to unprecedented success both within the Ivy League and on the national scale. With 232 career wins, 13 NCAA Tournament appearances, nine Ivy League championships and four NCAA Final Fours to her credit, Patton is one of the nation’s elite coaches. Beyond Hanover, Patton is an active part of U.S. Lacrosse, having recently served as head coach of the U.S. Women’s National Developmental team.

Dartmouth has been a model of consistency under Patton, ranked in the IWLCA top-20 during every single season that she has coached and has ranked in the top-10 nationally in 18 of those, including in 2010, 2011 and 2012. As a program, Dartmouth is one of just five teams to be ranked during every single season since the IWLCA began weekly polls in 1988.

In 21 years as Dartmouth's head coach, Patton owns a 232-111 overall record, 110-32 in Ivy League play, winning nearly 78 percent of Dartmouth’s conference games. Since her arrival in Hanover in 1993, the Big Green has reached double figures in wins 17 times and advanced past the NCAA first round seven times. Patton’s teams are no strangers to perfection, five times winning the Ivy League unbeaten, most recently in 2005. From 1997-2001, Dartmouth won 22 consecutive Ancient Eight contests, en route to three-straight 7-0 championship seasons.

Dartmouth's defense has ranked in the top-10 nationally in scoring defense seven times since 2002, including leading the nation in that category in 2006.

In 2012, Patton and the Big Green finally won the Ivy League Tournament Championship, taking down top-seeded Penn, 6-4, in the title game. The Green held the Quakers without a goal for 44 minutes to complete the comeback win two days after knocking off Cornell in a thrilling 9-8 game. In winning the crown, Dartmouth would advance to its 13th NCAA Tournament and the 12th since Patton took control of the program. The following season (2013) saw the team once again reach the national tournament, defeating BC in the first round for the program's first NCAA Tourney win since 2006.

Patton's 19th season at the helm (2011) was a special one in which Dartmouth won its 11th Ivy League Championship and made its 12th NCAA Tournament appearance. Ranked as high as 10th nationally during the season, it marked a true return to glory for the Big Green, which had not won an Ivy title since 2005 and had not been to the postseason since 2006. Dartmouth also knocked off previously unbeaten No. 1 Maryland on May 1, snapping the Terps' 28-game winning-streak and becoming the first team other than North Carolina to beat Maryland since 2008.

Seven players were named All-Ivy in 2011 including the rare duo of both Ivy Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year awarded to attack Kat Collins ’11 and goalkeeper Kristen Giovanniello ’14, respectively. Both went on to earn IWLCA All-America second team honors along with defender Shannie MacKenzie ’11. Personally, Patton won her 200th career game overall against Vermont on March 3, 2011 and later won her 100th career Ivy game with the title-clinching win over Harvard on April 29.

While the numbers speak volumes for Patton, she is perhaps best known for her abilities as a strategist, teacher, leader and competitor. She is comfortable switching styles to suit the personnel in any given season, and has even done so midyear. Recently, 2010 was one such season as Dartmouth returned to the national top-10, ranking as high as seventh in the IWLCA poll, after knocking off then #8 Notre Dame and #6 Syracuse on the road in a 10-day span. Patton had to adjust the sails for the Big Green, however, when All-America candidate Kat Collins ’11, the star attacker, went down with an injury. She managed to keep the team in stride to continue its nine-game winning streak and run to the inaugural Ivy League Tournament Championship game, for which Collins returned to the lineup. In 2006, after starting the season at 6-4, Dartmouth stirred up the lacrosse world by going on an 8-1 run, storming to the NCAA national championship game. After an epic battle in front of a strong pro-Dartmouth crowd at Boston University’s Nickerson Field, the defending national champion Northwestern got past the Big Green, 7-4.

Perhaps most important, Dartmouth’s players develop both as athletes and people during their time in Hanover. Since 1993, Patton has coached 32 first team All-Ivy players honored 55 times. Also in that time, Dartmouth boasts 30 All-Americans honored 47 times, including 21 first team honorees. Patton has mentored five Ivy League Players of the Year, four Ivy Rookies of the Year, a national player of the year and a national defensive player of the year.

Known for her work with goalkeepers, Patton’s recent netminders have had tremendous success on both the national and international scene. Most recently, Kristen Giovanniello ’14 became Dartmouth's first-ever freshman to earn All-America status, making the IWLCA Second Team in 2011 as the only freshman among 51 All-Americans that year. Devon Wills ’06, a three-time All-America and current member of the U.S. National Elite team, is regarded as one of the top goalkeepers in the world. First team All-Ivy goalie Sarah Hughes ’02 was part of the U.S. National program and earned All-America status. Goalkeeper Julie Wadland ’10, twice named first team All-Ivy, became the third-straight four-year netminder to earn All-America honors during her career, following in the footsteps of Hughes and Wills. She is also a member of the US National Developmental Team.

Two Patton-coached players saw success on the world stage when Wills and Whitney Douthett ’07 helped the United States to the 2009 Lacrosse World Cup Championship in Prague. Wills was named MVP of the championship game. Wills would go on to add another world title to her resume with Team USA in 2013, winning Oshawa, Ontario.

Patton’s efforts have not gone unrewarded on a personal level. She was named the IWLCA National Coach of the Year in 1998, was one of three finalists for that honor in 1993 — her first season at the helm — and has been the Northeast Region’s Coach of the Year three times (1994, 1995, 1998).

One of the most recognized names in college women’s lacrosse, Patton is a prominent member of the Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA). She was vice president of the IWLCA for two years. Most recently, Patton headed the Brine All-America selection committee and has served on the Tewaaraton Trophy selection committee. Patton was a U.S. Squad selector in 1993, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2006, 2007 and 2008. She was also a member of the NCAA Women’s Lacrosse Committee and assistant coach for the U.S. National Developmental team in 1998-2000. Patton served as head coach of the developmental squad from 2006-09.

Prior to her appointment as head coach at Dartmouth, Patton served as an assistant to former coach and athletics director Josie Harper from 1991-92. Patton also served as an assistant for her alma mater at the University of Maryland women’s lacrosse team during the 1990 season.

Patton is a 1988 Maryland graduate where she earned a bachelor’s degree in physical education. As an athlete, Patton was a four-year letterwinner in both lacrosse and field hockey, earning All-America and All-ACC accolades. She was a member of Maryland’s 1986 NCAA national championship lacrosse team and earned the Terps’ scholar-athlete award.

Amy resides in Hanover, with her daughter Jaime and twin sons Owen and Aidan.

Player Views
“Amy is one of the greatest coaches I have ever had. She is the type of coach who makes you not only want to be a better player but a better person as well. She spends hours upon hours watching game tape, recruiting, scouting and just thinking and worrying about the team. Amy has created a tradition under Dartmouth lacrosse of pride and a love for the sport. She has taught me how to sacrifice my personal interest for the betterment of the team and has turned me into the best lacrosse player I could be. She is an amazing coach and somebody who has made a tremendous impact on my life.” - Whitney Douthett ’07

“Amy is not only a great coach, but a great leader, mentor and friend. She is committed to making our lacrosse team the best we can possibly be by pushing us as far as we can go. She brings knowledge and passion everyday and her remarkable abilities as a coach are manifested in the success Dartmouth lacrosse has seen over the past 14 years. Her accomplishments on the lacrosse field are notable, but more importantly, Amy helps to shape each player into a great person as well. Amy cares about each and every player on our team, our lives, our emotions, along with our lacrosse skills. The qualities of accountability, commitment, character, leadership and pride, among others, are emphasized and demanded of every player on our team. With these traits, Amy sets up players to be successful in ways that span much farther than lacrosse and college.” - Sarah Szefi ’07

“Amy Patton’s understanding of the game of lacrosse is unparalleled. She has been a student of the game for so long, and she translates all of that knowledge into incredibly effective and well-rounded coaching. She is an amazing communicator and makes me feel so supported on this team. Amy’s coaching has made me grow both as a lacrosse player and as a person.”  - Eliza Bennett ’10
   
“I love playing for Amy because not only does she know absolutely everything about lacrosse, but she also runs a program that, as a part of, you are truly inspired to challenge yourself and push your limits. In just two years I know I have developed immensely as a lacrosse player from playing for Amy Patton, but more importantly, I have learned so much about myself and grown tremendously in life off the field.” - Kat Collins ’11

"I feel extremely privileged to have had Amy as my coach for the past four years. Without a doubt, she is the most intelligent and strategic coach that I have ever had. Her knowledge of the game simply cannot be toped. However, Amy’s talents as a coach go far beyond her ability to coach the game of lacrosse. Amy is also an incredible teacher and motivator, pushing you to achieve your absolute best, not only on the field but off the field as well. She challenges us to be better people everyday, and I feel that the experiences that I have had in this program and the positive influence she has had on me will stay with me well beyond my four years at Dartmouth." - Sarah Plumb ’12

Amy Patton at Dartmouth

Amy Patton’s Record vs. All Opponents

Amy Patton’s Coaching Influence
Devon Wills ’06 — Current assistant coach at USC
Katieanne Christian ’05 — Former assistant coach at Boston College
Katy Cuneo ’02 — Former assistant coach at North Carolina
Jen Newitt ’02 — Former assistant at Notre Dame, former volunteer assistant at Penn
Amy Zimmer ’01— Former first assistant at Syracuse; former volunteer assistant at Dartmouth
Sarah Hughes ’02 — Former assistant at Albany, former assistant at Stanford
Melissa Frazier ’00 — Former assistant at Columbia
Kate Graw ’00 — Former assistant at Dartmouth, former volunteer coach at Georgetown
Lauren Holleran ’95 — Former assistant at Harvard, Former assistant at Cal-Berkeley
Marianne Bocock Doyle ’92 — Former first assistant at Dartmouth
Kelly Hannigan ’97 — Former assistant at Dartmouth