The Chapel Hill women’s lacrosse season seemed in jeopardy just a few weeks before tryouts, but, on May 3 it came to a close against Apex High School in the first round of playoffs.
Dan Segal, the Tigers’ head coach the previous four seasons, moved on to Millbrook High School in Raleigh after leading the 2018 team to a 10-5 record and the second round of state playoffs.
Ian Shannon, a new Exceptional Student (EC) assistant teacher and Tiger alumnus, took Segal’s place in February.
“It came to my attention that the girls’ lacrosse team might not have a season because no one would coach,” Shannon said. “I thought, ‘Well, I can’t let that happen.’”
Shannon hoped to replicate the success he experienced as a student from 2002-2006. “We won the state championship when I was here in 2003, and every single year we were either in the finals or semifinals,” Shannon said.
Last year, Shannon coached the McDougle Middle School boys’ lacrosse team.
Coming into his first season coaching women’s lacrosse, Shannon said his main goal was to play the game “the right way.”
“I wanted them to work hard and learn about the game, as well as themselves,” he said.
The Tigers finished the season 8-8 overall with a 5-2 conference record.
Shannon knew that there would be a little bit of a learning curve in his first year coaching, so he turned to his senior captains, Anna Blythe and Alleigh Kempf, for some support.
Kempf, who will continue her playing career at Bryant University next year, led the Tigers in goals (64) and assists (ten). She was also named ESPN radio 99.9 The Fan’s Coastal Credit Union Scholar-Athlete for the month of April.
“I took it as my responsibility to keep the energy up and make sure the girls were working hard but having fun at the same time at practice, because that was the only way we were going to progress,” Kempf said
Senior Enid MacLean appreciated Shannon’s effort to get to know his players and help them improve, but she also admired Shannon’s unique personality.
“He is kind of a quirky dude. He hops around and says weird things like, ‘Gather your brain grapes,’” she said.
