Amherst College Men's Lacrosse

Sean Woods enters his fifth season at the helm of the Amherst men's lacrosse program.  In his four years as head coach, the Mammoths have received bids to the NCAA Tournament three times, reaching the third round in 2023. He has achieved a 43-25 (.632) record thus far at Amherst. Woods has coached his players to 13 All-NESCAC team selections. Additionally, Willie Doyle '28, Brendan Reilly '27, and Bob Gross '26 garnered NESCAC Rookie of the Year honor in 2025, 2024, and 2023, respectively. Under his direction,  six Mammoths were selected USILA Honorable Mention All-America in 2024 and Thompson Lau was named the USILA National Long Stick Midfielder of the Year. Five Mammoths were also honored as USILA All-American Honorable Mentions in 2023.  In 10 seasons as the Tigers’ head coach, Woods guided the Colorado College program through the most successful era in its 50-plus-year history. Capturing four conference championship titles (2013, 2014, 2019, 2021), his teams compiled an 109-42 overall record (a .722 winning percentage) and a perfect 20-0 league mark in four seasons competing in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC). Woods also led the Tigers to seven NCAA Championship tournament appearances (2013-18, 2021) and advanced to the national quarterfinals in 2021 as the seventh-ranked team in the country. A highlight occurred in 2016, when Woods and his team hosted the program’s first-ever postseason home game, a nail-biter in which Colorado College defeated Whittier College, by one goal, in overtime.  During his career in Colorado, Woods was named the SCAC Coach of the Year three times (2013, 2019, 2021) and was voted the 2021 IMLCA Region V Coach of the Year after leading the team to a 13-4 record. He has mentored 177 SCAC Honor Roll selections, 41 All-Conference honorees, 10 SCAC major award winners and 10 United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association All-Americans over the past 10 years. He currently ranks as the 20th-ranked winningest Division III coach all-time. Woods previously served as the head coach at NCAA Division II Mars Hill College in North Carolina from 2006 to 2011, accumulating a 51-24 overall record, three Deep South Conference championship crowns (2009-2011), and three conference Coach of the Year selections (2007, 2009, 2010). He began his coaching career as an offensive assistant and goalie coach at Division I Brown University (2001-2003) before joining the staff at Division III Washington College (Md.) for a three-season stint (2003-2006) as the program’s offensive coordinator and recruiting coordinator. He served as chair of the NCAA Division III Men’s Lacrosse National Committee in 2018 and 2019. A native of Newport, R.I., Woods is a 2001 graduate of Hartwick College in Oneonta, N.Y., where he earned his bachelor’s degree in anthropology and was a four-year letter-winner.   Sean Woods’ Coaching Career 2021: Amherst College (Head Coach) 2011-2021: Colorado College (Head Coach) 2006-2011: Mars Hill University (Head Coach) 2003-2006: Washington College (Senior Assistant Coach) 2001-2003: Brown University (Assistant Coach) What They Said "I am honored and excited to be part of the Amherst Mammoth family. I want to thank Dr. Catherine Epstein and Mr. Faulstick for this amazing opportunity. I am looking forward to getting my feet on the ground in Amherst and becoming part of such an amazing college community. I am also eager to build relationships with the players and alumni to continue the great tradition that is Amherst men's lacrosse." - Sean Woods "I am very pleased to introduce Sean Woods as the next head men's lacrosse coach at Amherst College. Sean stood out in our search for his unwavering commitment to mentoring students to help them meet their personal, academic and athletic goals and guiding them to become full, contributing members of the Amherst College community. He's a proven leader in D3 lacrosse, and we believe he will be a critical partner in helping us to successfully evolve our men's lacrosse program." -Amherst College Director of Athletics Don Faulstick  

Sam Horning came to Amherst in 2023 from Colorado College where he was offensive coordinator and recruiting coordinator for two seasons. He enters his second season with the Mammoths in 2025. At Colorado College, Horning guided the offense to 12.62 in 2022 and 14.19 in 2023 goals per game. Colorado College also won back-to-back HCLC championships and had a total of 6 all-conference selections, 5 of them being first-team. Horning was a member of the CC staff during the 2020 campaign when the Tigers rolled to a 6-0 record before the remainder of the season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. During the 2021 season, Horning was the offensive coordinator and coached the face-off unit at Division II University of Montevallo in Montevallo, Ala. He helped guide the Falcons to a 10-4 record and claim the Peach Belt Conference regular season and tournament championships, their first titles in the four-year history of the program. Under Horning’s direction, Montevallo ranked No. 6 nationally averaging 15 goals per game. He coached four all-conference players, including attackman Thomas Vaesen, who was named the PBC Offensive Player of the Year and Player of the Year. Vaesen also became the first player in program history to earn all-South Region honors. Horning began his collegiate playing career at Wheeling Jesuit University, where he was named to the ECAC all-Rookie Team as a freshman and was an Honorable Mention all-ECAC selection as a sophomore. Horning played his final two seasons at the University of Indianapolis. As a senior, he was a first-team all-Great Lakes Valley Conference selection after he helped the Greyhounds capture their first conference championship. As a junior, he ranked second on the team with 33 points (23 goals, 10 assists). The Colorado Springs, CO native graduated from UIndy in 2019 with a degree in communications with a focus in public relations.

Sean Thornton joined the Amherst athletics staff as an assistant coach and defensive coordinator for men's lacrosse in the summer of 2023, and is entering his second season on the Mammoths' coaching staff.  The Stony Brook, NY native comes to Amherst after serving as the Defensive Coordinator at Nazareth University for one season where he helped lead them to the Empire-8 Championship game. Prior to Nazareth, Thornton was a Graduate Assistant Men's Lacrosse coach at Springfield College for two seasons until June of 2022. He helped coordinate game and practice plans and was the defensive coordinator during his tenure. In 2022, he coached six NEWMAC all-conference selections & coached two honorable-mention all american's.  Thornton was a four-year member of the Springfield College lacrosse team from 2016-2020 and was voted a captain in his senior season. Springfield won the New England Men's and Women's Athletics Conference (NEWMAC) championships in three of his four seasons and helped lead them to the Sweet 16 in 2019.