Union College Athletics

In four years, Jessica Critchlow has led Union to 53 victories and has a winning percentage of 75%. In the last two years, the Dutchwomen have reached the NCAA Regionals and have won 15 games each season. 

The 2009 season featured Liberty League Coach of the Year honors for Critchlow, and sophomore attack Kristin Joyce earned All-American honors from IWLCA and U.S. Lacrosse. Union was ranked as high as #6 and finished the season with a #8 ranking in both national polls.

Critchlow was named the Berkshires Region Coach of the Year in 2008. Union was ranked fifth in the final IWLCA (Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association) national poll. This is the highest ranking on record for the Dutchwomen in program history.
Union tied a school record with 15 wins and lost by one goal in the final minutes at #2 College of New Jersey in a regional final game. The Dutchwomen were 15-4.

In the 2007 campaign, the Dutchwomen won 10 games and competed in the Liberty League Championship Game, finishing 12th in the IWLCA Division III poll. In her first year, Critchlow guided the Dutchwomen to 13 wins, including a perfect 7-0 home record, and the Liberty League Championship. The Dutchwomen also won an opening round NCAA playoff home game.

Critchlow was named the head coach of the Union women's lacrosse program in July of 2005. She had been the head coach at Utica College since July of 2002. Critchlow guided a Utica program that completed just its fifth varsity season in 2005, and coached the Lady Pioneers for the last three seasons. She led Utica to the 2003 New York State Women's Collegiate Athletic Association (NYSWCAA) Lacrosse Championship tournament. Her first two seasons at the program's helm resulted in the team recording its best finish ever in Empire 8 Conference competition, and many individuals garnering conference and national honors. Critchlow's teams continued to excel academically as well, with many of the Lady Pioneers consistently producing a 3.0 or higher GPA.

Critchlow began her duties at Utica in August of 2001, serving as an assistant women's lacrosse and women's soccer coach. She took over both the women's lacrosse and women's soccer head coaching duties in July of 2002, and served in both roles until May of 2004. Critchlow was named the Empire 8 Women's Soccer Coach of the Year in 2003, turning the program around with an 11-4-1 mark after a 3-12 record just two years earlier.

A letterwinner in both lacrosse and soccer at the College of Wooster (Ohio), Critchlow captained the Scots lacrosse team her senior year and won the North Coast Athletic Conference's Defensive Player of the Year Award in 2001. She was also selected as a regional All-American and was named to the North Coast Athletic Conference All-Star First Team as a midfielder.

Union has won 65 games in the last five seasons, with league title game appearances each year, and three NCAA tourneys.

Coach Critchlow can be contacted by phone at (518) 388-6040, or by email at: critchlj@union.edu.