JUNE 26 6:13 P.M. – Former Syracuse women’s lacrosse head coach Lisa Miller resigned Tuesday to take the same position at Harvard.

Miller, the 2007 Big East Coach of the Year, is the only coach the SU women’s lacrosse program has ever had in its 10-year existence. The team is coming off the best season in school history after Syracuse won 13 games and its first NCAA tournament game at Vanderbilt before losing to eventual national champion Northwestern in the second round.

Syracuse Director of Athletics Daryl Gross said Miller wished to be closer to her home in Plymouth, Mass.

‘I’ve been with Lisa for a while and we’ve gone through some dynamics as far as other people being interested in her that are near her home,’ Gross said Tuesday from his office. ‘She went to William & Mary and Harvard is near where she lives. She accomplished a lot here and we’re proud of her. I’m happy for her.’

Miller is the seventh coach to leave Syracuse since Gross was hired in 2004. She took the Orange to six NCAA tournament appearances in her 10 years and had a 106-53 overall record. She also coaches the Canadian national women’s lacrosse team. Miller is not unfamiliar with the Ivy League-she was an assistant coach at Brown from 1994-96.

‘Harvard has a proud women’s lacrosse tradition and I am delighted by the challenge of facing the tough competition in the Ivy League and restoring the program to national prominence,’ Miller said in a statement released by Harvard.

Harvard had a 5-11 record in 2007. The former Crimson coach, Sarah Nelson, resigned after the 2007 season, for reasons including wanting to spend more time with her family. The last time Harvard finished with a winning record was 2002 (9-7). It’s been 13 years since the Crimson last qualified for the NCAA tournament, in 1994.

Outgoing senior midfielder Ashley Pike said she and the rest of the team were surprised by the announcement.

‘I’m shocked,’ Pike said. ‘I don’t really know what to say about it.’

Rising junior Meg Mosenson expressed the same sentiments, saying she was surprised by the news when she found out in an email addressed to the team by Miller on Monday. Mosenson said there was no indication of her coach’s desire to leave at any point during the season.

Christina Dove, a rising sophomore midfielder, said Miller explained in the email how tough of a decision it was to leave Syracuse.

‘I can see her reasoning for it,’ Dove said. ‘I can understand it, but she has created such a great program and such a great foundation that anyone can come in and we’ll be fine, I guess.’

Gross said a search for a new head coach has already begun. He is now tasked with hiring two coaches this summer after announcing earlier this summer the addition of a women’s ice hockey program in 2008. That move followed the disbanding of the men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams after next season.

The new women’s lacrosse coach will be able to build on a solid foundation, Gross said, Miller helped create. But he expects more.

‘There’s room for improvement,’ Gross said. ‘I want to be in the final four every year. I want national championships. So I’m going to take her body of work and we’re going to enhance it and make this extraordinary. What she did for us is prove that we can be a national power. Now we can take it to the next level.’

Assistant sports editor Zach Schonbrun and staff writer Jared Diamond contributed to this report.Return to Dailyorange.com for updates.

Published on June 28, 2007 at 12:00 pm