After a year of recruiting, Ryan coached the Cougars in the spring of 2018 as the program made its return to Averett. The Cougars set program records with 10 overall wins and four conference wins with Ryan at the helm. She produced four all-conference performers as the team multiple individual single-season records.

Ryan came to Averett after serving as an assistant coach at Division II University of Tampa from 2014-16. Prior to that, she was an assistant for one season at Southwestern University, where she helped establish the university’s women’s lacrosse program from 2013-14, and also coached two seasons as a graduate assistant at Frostburg State University from 2011-2013.

A native of Long Island, New York, Ryan played four seasons at Catholic University, which won four consecutive Landmark Conference championships between 2008-11 and made four straight NCAA Tournament appearances, including the Elite 8 in 2008. A midfielder, Ryan earned Landmark All-Conference Second Team honors in 2010.

In addition to her coaching stops at the collegiate level, Ryan has also coached club teams or instructed clinics in Florida, Texas, New York and Virginia. She also served as an assistant cross country coach at Southwestern.

Ryan earned her bachelor's degree in elementary education in 2011 from Catholic and received her master’s degree in education with a concentration in special education from Frostburg State in 2013.