Drew University Women's Lacrosse

Stefani Peluso will enter her first year as the women’s lacrosse head coach at Drew University in 2024-25.   Peluso comes to the Forest from Division I Manhattan College, where she served as an assistant coach, offensive coordinator, and recruiting coordinator over the last two seasons. She was also a Division I student-athlete at Wagner College, where she was a 100-point scorer for the women’s lacrosse team.   In her role at Manhattan, Peluso was highly-involved in numerous areas on and off the field. She developed offensive sets, philosophies, and game plans while also organizing recruiting materials, attending recruiting events, and evaluating and identifying prospective student-athletes. She also assisted in everything from developing practice plans to monitoring academic progress for team members to overseeing off-field player development through the organization of various workshops and events.   During her time in Riverdale, Peluso coached three players who earned a combined four All-Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) honors, including one First-Team All-MAAC selection.    Peluso has also coached for 3d Lacrosse and Ultimate Lacrosse, and she served as the Girls Lacrosse Director and Social Media Manager for Q4 Lacrosse.   At Wagner, Peluso was a five-year team member, appearing in 71 games while making 49 starts as an attacker. A team captain and member of the Wagner Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, she tallied 114 points on 64 goals and 50 assists. Peluso helped the Seahawks capture back-to-back Northeast Conference championships in 2018 and 2019 and in both seasons, Wagner also notched a victory in the NCAA Championship tournament. The team set a school record with 14 victories in 2018, then improved upon that mark with a 16-win season one year later.  

Karger with her first head coaching opportunity after a successful Division I playing career, followed by high-profile assistant coaching stints at Division I programs University of Connecticut and Princeton University. From 2012-14, she served as the First Assistant Coach at UConn under Head Coach Katie Woods, a 2001 graduate of Drew University and 2012 inductee to the Drew Athletics Hall of Fame. Most recently, Karger was an assistant coach at Princeton University for one season and aided in the daily operation of a national top 15 lacrosse program.   "I am honored and grateful to be named the next head coach of Drew women's lacrosse," Karger said. "I want to thank , , and the entire search committee for the opportunity and everything they have done for me thus far. I look forward to getting started and building on the success and history of the program."   A 2008 graduate of Mount St. Mary's University in Maryland, Karger received a bachelor of arts in German and stood out as a goalkeeper and captain for the Mountaineers. As a player, she was named to the NEC All-Tournament Team and the Division I North/South All-Star Game in 2008, and was a three-time selection to the NEC Academic Honor Roll. She began her collegiate coaching career at her alma mater in 2008 as an assistant coach, where she increased her knowledge of the game and established her coaching philosophy. Karger continued her coaching career at the Division III level as an assistant at Connecticut College from 2010-11.   "We are delighted to welcome Jane to the Drew coaching staff," Fein said. "Her experience and enthusiasm make her a perfect fit for our program and our student-athletes. We are looking forward to building on a historically successful program and to everything the future brings under Jane's direction."   Karger returned to Division I as the assistant coach at Central Connecticut State University from 2011-12, when she trained and developed the 2012 NEC Goalkeeper of the Year and two NEC First Team selections. In the spring of 2012, she joined Woods at UConn and was part of a historic coaching staff. Karger helped guide the Huskies to their first-ever Big East Conference Tournament and NCAA Tournament appearances in 2013, and followed it up with the best regular season conference finish in 2014. She was responsible for developing and coaching a two-time All-Big East and NCAA Division I All-Northeast Region goalkeeper in 2013 and 2014.   She continued to expand her coaching and administrative duties as a member of the Princeton University coaching staff and as an administrative coordinator at Ultimate Lacrosse Club simultaneously in 2014. Karger has been at the forefront of recruiting top talent across multiple divisions of the NCAA, and was paramount in creating high-intensity training programs for goalkeepers and defensive skill development in elite programs.   Outside of the collegiate coaching scene, Karger has been a camp counselor for girls lacrosse since 2005 and has coached girls lacrosse clubs for the past 10 years.   Karger earned a master of arts in educational psychology from University of Connecticut in 2014. She began graduate work at Mount St. Mary's in 2008, when she worked as a graduate assistant in the Department of Learning Services. Alma Mater: Career Record: