2026 Shore Sports Insider Girls Lacrosse Coach of the Year: Rachel Lasda, Manasquan

Long before Manasquan celebrated a sectional championship and a trip to the state final, there was an early-April afternoon that offered a glimpse of what Rachel Lasda was building.

Facing perennial Shore Conference power Rumson-Fair Haven, the Warriors delivered one of the season’s biggest upsets, knocking off the Bulldogs 8-7 and snapping RFH’s 15-game winning streak.

At the time, it was an impressive early-season victory.

By the end of the spring, it looked more like a sign of things to come.

In her first season at the helm, Lasda guided Manasquan to one of the most successful campaigns in program history, leading the Warriors to the South Jersey Group 2 sectional championship and just the third state final appearance in school history. For helping the program finally break through state playoff barriers that had stood in its way for three years, Lasda is Shore Sports Insider’s 2026 Girls Lacrosse Coach of the Year.

The challenge facing Lasda upon her arrival wasn’t rebuilding a program from the ground up.

The Warriors had talent. They had athletes. They had expectations.

What they lacked was postseason success.

Manasquan finished 11-11 in 2025 and entered the season carrying the weight of three consecutive playoff losses to Allentown. The Warriors had repeatedly found themselves on the doorstep of a breakthrough, only to see their season end at the hands of the Redbirds.

Lasda arrived with the credentials to help change that narrative.

A former Villanova standout, she was already one of New Jersey’s most accomplished coaches, having led Oak Knoll to five consecutive state championships from 2015-19. While her resume spoke for itself, success in a new program is never guaranteed.

Trust had to be earned.

Lasda inherited a roster featuring numerous underclassmen starters while introducing a new voice, new expectations, and a new culture. The Warriors embraced all of it.

“I think she did such an amazing job of coming in and slowly connecting with every single one of us and getting us to put our trust in her,” senior defender Logan McCarthy said after the state championship. “This is where it took us [state championship], and she just did such an amazing job, and she put all her attention and time into us, and we really appreciate it.”

As the season progressed, Manasquan steadily developed into one of the Shore Conference’s most dangerous teams. The Warriors did not win a division title and finished the season at 11-9, but they continued to improve as the year went along and entered the postseason ready to play their best lacrosse of the year.

According to senior midfielder Ellie Sitar, that growth was a direct reflection of Lasda’s preparation and organization.

“Every single day she has a game plan, she has the tiniest piece of paper, it’s like a Post-it note where she has every single thing that she wants to get done at practice that day,” Sitar said. “It’s consistent, we know exactly what we’re doing at the beginning.”

Sitar also pointed to the amount of work Lasda put in behind the scenes.

“She watches endless hours of film, she is so prepared for every single opponent that we face, so it makes us all around a better team having such a good coach,” Sitar said.

Once the state tournament began, the Warriors took off.

Manasquan opened the South Jersey Group 2 tournament with a 19-9 victory over Cedar Creek before defeating a talented Seneca squad 14-10 in the semifinals.

Then came the moment that defined the season.

Standing across the field was Allentown, the program that had given the Warriors three years’ worth of heartbreak.

This time, the Warriors left no doubt.

Manasquan overwhelmed the Redbirds 14-2 to capture the South Jersey Group 2 championship, turning years of postseason frustration into one of the most memorable victories in program history.

The breakthrough was complete.

The Warriors carried that momentum to the Group 2 state championship game. Although Manasquan ultimately fell to Mendham 10-3, the accomplishment represented a significant step forward for a program that had spent the last few years trying to return to that stage.

For Lasda, the run was about more than wins and losses.

It was about trust.

“They trusted me in my first year, and I’m exceptionally grateful for that,” Lasda said following the state championship game. “To get here is a testament to all their hard work and the senior leadership.”

That trust was evident throughout the season, perhaps best reflected in Sitar’s words.

“I’m so excited to see what Coach Lasda is going to do,” Sitar said. “She took a team that she was coaching for only three months to the state championship game.”

The significance of that statement cannot be overstated.

Lasda did not spend years developing this roster. She inherited it. In only a matter of months, she earned her players’ confidence and helped them accomplish something they had been pursuing throughout their high school careers.

Sitar believes those accomplishments are exactly why Lasda deserves recognition as the Shore’s top coach.

“I think she 100% deserves it. I couldn’t think of another coach that is better than her,” Sitar said.

While the Warriors will graduate seven seniors, including the Albany-bound McCarthy, Sitar, defender Gwen O’Connor and goalkeeper Alexandra Stamos, the future remains bright.

Manasquan returns a talented core led by rising junior midfielder Chloe Stevens, rising senior midfielder Dylan Carnahan, and rising senior attacker Sarah Sharpe. Combined with the championship standard Lasda established in Year One, the Warriors appear positioned to remain among the Shore’s elite.

 

Finalists (alphabetical order)

Marina Ackerson, Holmdel (13-7 season, Constitution Division title)

Liz Kolb, Point Boro (15-5 season)

Dana Lenneper, Trinity Hall (19-4 season, American Division title)

Amy O’Keefe, Rumson-Fair Haven (16-6 season, Shore Conference title)

Amanda Olsen, Long Branch (11-7 season, Independence Division title)