Cornell University Athletics

The 2002 IWLCA National Coach of the Year
The 2002, 2006 IWLCA Northeast Regional Coach of the Year

Jenny Graap returned to her alma mater in 1997 with one goal in mind: to build the Cornell women’s lacrosse team into a championship contender. Now entering her 11th year at the helm, the 2002 Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association Coach of the Year and 2006 Inside Lacrosse Magazine and IWLCA Northeast Coach of the Year has developed the Big Red women’s lacrosse program into one of the most successful in the nation.

Graap has built an Ivy League and national title contender in her first 10 years. She has posted a 99-57 record at Cornell and a 120-101 mark in 14 years as a head coach. With her first victory, she’ll become the second Cornell lacrosse coach to reach 100 wins.

In her tenure at Cornell, Graap has had 46 All-Ivy selections, 33 IWLCA Regional All-Americans, 13 IWLCA national All-Americans, three CoSIDA Academic All-Americans, two Ivy League Players of the Year and one national player of the year finalist. Her teams have reached postseason play in six of the last nine years and have won at least 10 games five times.

Courtney Farrell was named first-team all-region in 2007 after setting the school record for single-season assists (34). She joined classmate Katherine Simmons as an all-region and first-team All-Ivy pick. Despite finishing 5-10, all 10 of the team’s losses came against squads that were nationally ranked at the time of the game or moved into the rankings after a win over the Big Red.

In 2006, Graap directed a team featuring just four seniors to a share of the program’s first Ivy title, leading the Big Red to a 12-4 overall record and its third NCAA tournament appearance. The 12 wins in a season ranks third all-time at Cornell, while the six Ivy wins tied the school record set by her 2002 squad. For her efforts, Graap was named the IWLCA and Inside Lacrosse Northeast Region Coach of the Year. The Big Red also completed its second undefeated home slate (7-0). In all, 11 of the team’s top 12 scorers were underclassmen, setting Cornell up for even bigger things in 2007. Graap did all of this despite a schedule that featured 10 games against teams ranked at some point during the season, including a win over NCAA finalist Dartmouth, as well as victories over perennial powerhouses Syracuse, Yale and Vanderbilt. Senior goalkeeper Maggie Fava was selected as Ivy League co-Player of the Year, while five players earned first-team All-Ivy honors, four were first-team all-region picks, and Fava (third-team), Margaux Viola (third-team) and Anne Riordan (second-team) were named to the IWLCA All-America teams.

In 2005, Cornell posted a strong 9-6 record, finishing the season ranked No. 17 in the final IWLCA poll. Graap’s young squad toppled four teams ranked in the top 20 during the season and also defeated NCAA bound Patriot League champion Colgate. The team’s 4-3 mark in Ancient Eight play was good for a third-place tie in the final standings and represented the fifth season in the last six years Cornell has posted a winning league record. Eight of the team’s top 11 scorers were freshmen or sophomores.

The 2004 campaign was a trying one for Graap and the Big Red, but the 6-9 season may have been one of her best coaching jobs. After losing a combined six All-Americans in the previous two years, Graap took a team with just two seniors that dropped eight of its first nine games and turned the ship around, helping Cornell to five wins in its last six contests. The Big Red knocked off nationally ranked Rutgers and Syracuse, as well as NCAA tournament participant and Patriot League champion Colgate. It also dropped one-goal decisions to NCAA semifinalist Vanderbilt and Ivy League runner-up Dartmouth on the road.

Cornell claimed its second Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference title in four years to cap off an 11-5 campaign in 2003. The team finished the season ranked No. 12 nationally in the IWLCA poll and defeated three other top 20 teams. Sarah Averson ’03 was named to the Tewaaraton Watch List for national player of the year honors.

The 2002 season was unquestionably the greatest season in Big Red women’s lacrosse history. Cornell culminated the campaign with a 16-2 record; its two losses coming on the road against the two national finalists, and set nearly a dozen school records, including wins (16), winning percentage (.889) and highest Ivy League finish to date (second). The team finished in the top seven nationally in scoring offense, scoring defense, scoring margin, winning percentage and ground balls. Cornell completed an undefeated season at home (8-0), topped eight ranked opponents and ended Maryland’s seven-year run as national champions with a 14-4 victory over the Terps in the NCAA quarterfinals. The team’s success earned Graap IWLCA and Inside Lacrosse National and Regional Coach of the Year honors. In all, seven players were named All-Ivy and four earned All-America status, with Jaimee Reynolds ’02 earning Ivy League Player of the Year and becoming a finalist for national player of the year.

The 2001 season was a breakout year, as the team finished with a record of 11-4 and received its first NCAA tournament invitation. The Big Red used a balanced offense and a stingy defense to go 5-2 in Ivy League play, good for a third-place tie, ranking fourth in the country in scoring defense (7.00 goals allowed per game), while averaging nearly 10 goals per game. Five players were honored when All-Ivy League teams were announced, and two were named All-Americans.

Graap’s 2000 squad set numerous records, including wins in a season (13), most goals (210) and most points scored (318), all since broken by the 2002 team, while ending the year at 13-4. The team capped the season with the ECAC title, running through Sacred Heart 17-4 and Johns Hopkins 16-4. In 1999, the Big Red made its first ECAC tournament appearance since 1993 and wrapped up the season with a 9-6 mark.

Graap is used to meeting challenges that are presented to her. Prior to returning to Cornell, she had been the head lacrosse coach at George Mason for four years. In 1994, the first year the Patriots sponsored the sport, the team went 3-12 and under Graap’s tutelage, they improved to 6-10 in 1997 with a significantly stronger schedule.

A 1986 graduate of Cornell’s College of Human Ecology, Graap was an assistant women’s lacrosse coach at Penn State from 1990-93, while completing a master’s degree in exercise and sport science. During her time with the Nittany Lions, they made three NCAA tournament appearances. Graap was also a field hockey and lacrosse intern at William Smith College from 1989-90. She received her first coaching experience as the head lacrosse mentor at the Oak Knoll School of the Holy Child in Summit, N.J., in 1989.

During her undergraduate days, Graap captained both the field hockey and lacrosse teams as a junior and senior, and earned a total of eight varsity letters in the two sports. She was second-team All-Ivy in field hockey as a senior, and is tied for 14th on the Cornell all-time career list with 24 points on 11 goals and two assists. Her 11 goals in field hockey tied her for 12th place on the Big Red’s list for career goals.

In 1986, Graap was named to the Brine Regional All-America lacrosse team and ranks among the top 15 on the all-time school points list with 91 (61 goals, 30 assists). She is still ranked on the career goals and career assists lists with the Big Red women laxers. While at Cornell, she also served as secretary of the Red Key Athletic Honorary Society. She joined her younger sister, Ellen, on both the field hockey and lacrosse teams during the 1985-86 seasons. Ellen was inducted into Cornell’s Athletic Hall of Fame in November 2000.

From 1991-93, Graap remained active as a player, representing the Philadelphia Club at the USWLA national tournament. She also participated in the Vail Lacrosse Shoot-Out as a Team Ripple player from 1992-97, 1999 and 2004.

Graap served as the Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches’ Association Division I vice president and as a member of the NCAA South regional selection committee. She was responsible for the design and launch of the IWLCA’s web site (www.iwlca.org). She is currently chair of the IWLCA’s Northeast regional All-America committee.

Graap has also worked with the NCAA lacrosse championships, assisting with the national selection committee and serving as a NCAA representative at the Division III championships. She served as a clinician for the NCAA’s Youth Education in Sport (YES) program in 1996, 1997, 2000 and 2005.

A native of West Chester, Pa., Graap attended East High School, where she lettered three times in basketball and played on the state runner-up field hockey team, in addition to the undefeated Chesmont lacrosse championship squad.

Graap and her husband, Dan Allen, reside in Ithaca. Dan is the freshman heavyweight rowing coach at Cornell.