HIGH SCHOOL RECRUITING
The Recruiting Process
Lax Plus is highly involved with the recruiting process. As you move through your high school years, the Lax Plus staff will continue to educate and guide you through the recruiting process. There will be informational sessions held throughout the year discussing the Division I, II, and III recruiting process.
Each player is assigned a recruiting coordinator. The coordinators then act as a liaison between our athletes and the college coaches at the schools they are interested in. This includes help with sending out emails to coaches, filling out questionnaires, and overall assistance as each athlete finds the best place for them at the college level. Each recruiting coordinator will assist their players with their recruiting online profiles, which is monitored by both the player and assigned coordinator. Players will receive feedback as to what level they would fit best academically and athletically for college lacrosse, as well as be provided any information from college coaches.
Our recruiting coordinators together are able to utilize their expertise and connections with the college world to ensure that all players find a college/university that meets there academic and athletic needs.
WHERE ARE OUR ALUMNI NOW
Our Lax Plus alumni are playing at a number of different schools at the collegiate level. Please visit our Alumni page to see where our alumni are today.
RECRUITING SOFTWARE
*Access to all college coaches with the most updated contact information at your fingertips
*Build your list of schools using the SportsRecruits search engine
*Never get lost in the process...our recruiting coordinators are able to track your progress every step of the way
*Set up a player profile and showcase your talents with unlimited video uploading
Lax Plus utilizes the latest recruiting software programs to assist each player in the recruiting process and allow our recruiting coordinators to track each players progress. Our coordinators act as a liaison between our athletes and the college coaches at the schools they are interested in. This includes help with sending out emails to coaches, filling out questionnaires, and overall assistance as each athlete finds the best place for them at the college level. Players will receive feedback as to what level they would fit best academically and athletically for college lacrosse, as well as be provided any information from college coaches.
With that being said, it is important to understand that college coaches prefer to evaluate players in a game situation rather than read a written evaluation from a club coach. Many college coaches feel that only through watching perspective athletes play multiple times can they make valid decisions. As much as we at Lax Plus are involved in the recruiting process, college coaches have made it clear that when NCAA rules allow, they prefer to have recruiting conversations with the athlete themselves, and not parents or coaches. This is because not only must a player fit with a team athletically, but socially as well. The coach is recruiting the individual athlete, and would like to get to know them. The athlete's personality during phone conversations, emails, and interviews, will help the coach determine if that athlete will fit in with their existing team. Through these conversation the college coach will also get a sense of how well the player will be able to handle the pressures of college academics and athletics
TIER I RECRUITING COORDINATORS=basic help. (Player does most of the work themselves and Kristen/Kelly are there to ask questions).
Kristen Mullady (Former Springfield College Head Coach and Current Hall High Coach):
Kristen has served as the Co-Director and Recruiting Coordinator for Lax Plus since 2006, and was the Head Women’s Lacrosse Coach and Assistant Professor in Physical Education at Springfield College from 2009-2022. As a former standout for Springfield’s women’s lacrosse team, Kristen still holds SC’s all-time record for points in a season, and ranks sixth all-time in career points. As a coach Kristen has established her Springfield program as one of the best in DIII. Mullady has been honored as the NEWMAC Coach of the Year four times since becoming head coach (2011, 2015, 2017, & 2021), and was named the IWLCA Berkshire Region Coach of the year for 2021. She has lead the pride to three NCAA appearances, with 2016 being Springfield's first ever NCAA Sweet 16 appearance, and highest ranking as no. 10 in the DIII national standings according to Lacrosse Magazine. She has coached numerous players to receive All-Conference, All-Region, and Player of the Year Awards. Kristen is a member of the Northeast Coaches Hall of Fame.
Kristen re-entered the collegiate coaching ranks after spending several years coaching high school and youth lacrosse in Connecticut. In addition to being the girl’s lacrosse coach for Hall High School in West Hartford, Kristen was named the President of the Connecticut High School Coaches Association for high school lacrosse for the spring of 2009, and has coached the U-15 Connecticut Select Team multiple times since 2000. She has been involved with running a number of high school and youth clinics, as well as coordinated strength and conditioning programs.
On the college level, Kristen also once served as the head coach for the Division I Central Connecticut State University women’s lacrosse program.
Kelly Gallo (Springfield College Assistant Coach):
Kelly started with Lax Plus as a HS club lacrosse player in the program. Kelly went on to Springfield College where she participated as a dual sport athlete and received a degree in Physical and Health Education. She received numerous athletic and academic awards during her time at Springfield College. As a senior, Kelly was chosen to represent Springfield College at the NCAA leadership convention. Gallo also served as the Assistant Lacrosse and Field Hockey Coach at Springfield College and was a teaching fellow in the Physical Education department.
Since undergrad, Kelly has completed her masters degree in Athletic Administration, and worked at Portsmouth Abbey in RI as an Assistant AD and Head Women's Lacrosse and Field Hockey coach. Gallo currently teaches Physical Education in Longmeadow coaches both for the Field Hockey program. Kelly also is the Assistant Coach at Springfield College.
TIER II RECRUITING COORDINATOR=most advanced package that guides player through the recruiting process. Jenn will support and advocate for the player through her HS time at Lax Plus
Jennifer Thomas (Springfield College Head Coach):
Jennifer Thomas '14 was named the head women's lacrosse coach and assistant professor of physical education at Springfield College on September 1, 2022.
A standout for the women's lacrosse program during her time as a student-athlete at Springfield College, she helped lead the Pride to New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Championships in 2012 and 2013. Thomas also served as a team captain during her career at Springfield.
Thomas spent the previous two years at Johnson & Wales University, where she was named the GNAC Coach of the Year in 2022 and led the Wildcats to an appearance in the 2021 NCAA Division III Championship Tournament, after winning the 2021 GNAC Championship. Under Thomas’ leadership, the Wildcats also earned the Team Sportsmanship Award in 2022. Prior to her time in Providence, Thomas spent five years as the head coach at Western Connecticut State University and also had stints as an assistant coach at Mercyhurst University and Mount Holyoke College.
Thomas was on former head coach Kristen Mullady’s first NEWMAC Championship teams in 2012, and repeated in 2013.
Thomas graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Movement and Sports Studies, Physical Education from Springfield College in 2014 and a Masters of Science in Organizational Leadership with a concentration in Sports Leadership from Mercyhurst University in 2020.
Thomas took over for the Springfield College women's lacrosse program that has a storied history of success and is the eighth head coach in the program's history.