Walton comees to ODU after serving as the head coach at Youngstown State. She led the Penguins from inception to conference champions in just two years of existence. In just her second season as a Division I head coach she was named the Mid-American Conference Coach of the Year.

In 2022, YSU won a share of the Mid-American Conference title with an 8-2 league mark. In the middle of the standings as April began, the Penguins got on a roll winning their final five contests to tie Robert Morris and Central Michigan atop the MAC standings. In its final five regular-season games, the Penguins won four road contests, including wins at CMU and RMU for the program's first win against those two-MAC powers. At Robert Morris on the final day of the regular-season, the Penguins rallied from a four-goal deficit to stun the Colonials. YSU was picked to finish fifth in the six-team conference in the preseason polls.

Freshman Natalie Calandra-Ryan led a major offensive turnaround as she was named the MAC's Freshman of the Year. Calandra-Ryan scored a conference record 68 goals in earning first-team league accolades. Aryss Lindsey joined Calandra-Ryan on the first team while Savannah Clarke, Erin Clark and Ali Korin were second-team All-MAC selections. Korin added 54 goals while Clark had 36 goals and 36 assists during the year. Clarke was stellar in goal averaging 9.3 saves per game and a .429 save percentage.

The program's first year was in the spring of 2021. With COVID-19 restrictions, the Penguins played conference games only. YSU picked up the first program win in school history beating Detroit Mercy and knocked off Kent State as well.

Walton, a native of Syracuse, N.Y., is familiar with the Mid-Atlantic region after spending two seasons at VCU focusing on the defensive unit, goalkeepers and was as recruiting coordinator for Head Coach Jen O'Brien at VCU before taking over the YSU program. The Rams posted seven victories in each of Walton's two seasons with the school.

In 2019, VCU was 7-11 and went 4-5 in the Atlantic 10 Conference. The Rams' defense caused 187 turnovers in the 18 games.

In 2018, VCU finished the year 7-11 overall with a 5-4 Atlantic 10 record. The team earned their first Atlantic 10 Championship berth by defeating seven-time defending conference champion UMass in the regular season, halting a NCAA record 61-game conference winning streak.