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Chris Ryan

 
Profile
Chris Ryan has been the head coach of the Mercyhurst men’s lacrosse team since 2001 after spending two years as an assistant coach for the Lakers.

Ryan led the Lakers to the program's first national championship in 2011 and guided the program to consecutive undefeated regular seasons in 2012 and 2013. He holds a 241-61 career record, ranking him among the best of active coaches in winning percentage. His teams have never experienced a losing season. His teams have produced Mercyhurst’s first All-American selections, first Academic All-American selections and first ECAC All-Star selections.

The 2022 season tasked Coach Ryan with developing a group of new faces into a championship contending team. They started out the year with close losses to Wingate and Le Moyne, who were ranked #1 and #2 at the time, before ripping of an eight game winning steak which would hep them clinch the GMAC Regular Season Title. They would eventually fall to Seton Hill in the GMAC Championship game before squaring off with the Griffins again in the Opening Round of the NCAA Tournament. Their, the Lakers would fall in heartbreakin fashion, 7-8. The Lakers would having 13 players honored with GMAC All-Conference Honors as well as nine who were named to USILA All-Region Teams. Seven additional Lkaers were maked USILA All-Americans including Braden McCard who was named the National Short Stick Defensive Midfielder of the Year.

2021 looked to be one to remember for the Lakers as they were able to play close to a full slate of games after the 2020 season was cut short. Mercyhurst posted a mark of 12-2 overall and went an unblemished 6-0 in Great Midwest Athletic Conference play. They racked up a pair of wins over nationally ranked Seton Hill once in the regular season as well as toppling the Griffins in the G-MAC title game. The Lakers fell one win short of playing for a national championship after falling 11-9 on the home turf in the NCAA North Regional Final to the eventual national champion Le Moyne College. Ryan had seven members of the team selected as All-Americans which included the National Midfielder of the Year Nathan Grenon. Fellow All-American Caleb Kueber led the nation in points per game at 6.29, while Devin Pipher was second in assists per game averaging 3.57. Overall the Lakers had 11 players named All Conference, including sweeping all the major awards like Offensive Player of the Year (Caleb Kueber), Defensive Player of the Year (Tommy Angelicola) and Coach of the Year.