Virginia Commonwealth University Women's Lacrosse

Nicole Flores enters her fourth season as the VCU Women's Lacrosse head coach after being appointed to the role in July 2021. In 2024, VCU earned the fifth seed and qualified for the Atlantic 10 Championship for the third time in the program's nine-year history. During the season, VCU also earned the program's first win against Richmond. Four Rams earned All-Atlantic 10 honors as Casey Murray was named to the All-Atlantic 10 Second Team and Rachel Koeneke was named to the All-Rookie Team while Sarah Jones and Kelsey McDonnell were named to the All-Academic Team. In just her second season in 2023, Flores led VCU to a program-record number of wins. In addition, the Rams had two student-athletes selected to the All-Atlantic 10 Second Team.    Flores, who is only the second head coach in the program’s short history dating to 2015, boasts more than a decade of coaching experience. She joins VCU after serving as an assistant coach at Stanford the past two seasons. Flores has also spent time as an assistant coach at Dartmouth, Trinity, Bowdoin, Union and Eastern Connecticut State.   While at Stanford, Flores served as both the program’s recruiting coordinator and defensive coordinator. The Cardinal completed an undefeated regular season this past spring en route to winning the PAC-12 Tournament and securing an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Cardinal ranked 28th nationally the past season in scoring defense under her watch, allowing 10.92 goals per game.   Prior to Stanford, Flores helped lead Dartmouth to the 2019 Ivy League Regular Season Championship. While with the Big Green, she managed the development of the team’s goalkeepers and defense in addition to planning official visits and assisting with the team’s recruiting efforts. Dartmouth finished 22-11 in her two seasons. The Big Green hadn’t posted a winning record in the four seasons prior to Flores’ arrival.   Flores spent one year as an assistant at Trinity, where she helped lead the team to the 2017 NCAA Division III Final Four and coached the 2017 IWLCA National Goalkeeper of the Year, Zoe Ferguson. Before coaching at Trinity, Flores served on the coaching staff at Bowdoin for two seasons, where the team reached the 2015 Division III Sweet 16. She also spent three seasons at Union (2011-14) and two seasons at Eastern Connecticut State (2009-11).   Flores played collegiately at Springfield College, where she was named to the All-New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference First Team as a senior and served as a team captain. Flores played as a defender and attacker after suiting up as a goalkeeper her first two seasons. She led the team to the 2006 Division III NCAA Tournament as a goalkeeper.   A native of Branford, Conn., Flores graduated from Springfield with a bachelor’s degree in physical education in 2009.          

Bianca Tedesco joined VCU Lacrosse as an assistant coach in July 2025. She joined VCU after serving as an assistant coach and offensive coordinator at Binghamton for two seasons. At Binghamton, Tedesco helped lead the Bearcats to the 2024 America East Championship and an NCAA Tournament appearance. At Binghamton, Tedesco coached America East All-Conference First Team selection Emma Blloshmi. Blloshmi, an attacker, set a new Binghamton single-season record with 59 goals and 30 free position goals. She led America East in scoring and ranked first in the NCAA in free position goals per game (2.0). In her first season with Binghamton, Tedesco aided the Bearcats their first America East Championship in program history and claimed its first share of the conference’s regular season title. The campaign also featured the most wins in the program’s 23-year history. Under Tedesco’s offensive direction, the Bearcats led 2024 America East opponents in points (22.17), goals (15.17) and assists (7.00) per game and ranked in the top 25 nationally in draw controls per game (15.32).   Tedesco came to Binghamton after a two-year stint as an assistant coach at Kennesaw State where she aided the Owls to their best record (11-7) in program history and to a single-season program record in points, goals and man-up goals. She coached Kennesaw State to two ASUN conference tournaments, including a semifinal appearance in 2022. She coached the 2023 ASUN Conference Freshman of the year and multiple All-Conference players. Tedesco coached one of the most decorated players in KSU program history, Siena Gore. The first-ever player to be named All-ASUN First Team four times, she was also the first player in KSU women's lacrosse history to be named IWLCA All-Region and an Inside Lacrosse Honorable Mention All-American. Tedesco was a standout at Winthrop from 2016 to 2021 before her coaching career. She holds the Eagles record for single game assists with eight. She earned Big South First Team All-Conference honors her senior season following a 20-goal, 42-assist season. She started all 15 games for the Eagles as a redshirt-senior. The Coral Springs, Fla. native earned a B.S. in Human Nutrition with a Minor in Coaching.  

Maggie Chizmar was named an assistant coach for VCU Lacrosse in August 2021. Chizmar had previously served as an assistant coach at Babson College since 2019 where she helped lead the Beavers to the 2021 New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference Championship and a second round appearance in the 2021 NCAA Tournament.   Chizmar was a two-time All-American East selection as a student-athlete at UMBC and boasts coaching experience at Johns Hopkins as well as with elite lacrosse club organizations Northeast Maryland Select and the Coppermine Lacrosse Club.   While at Babson, Chizmar coached senior Georgia Salvatore who was named an IWLCA Third Team All-American while four student-athletes overall earned All-NEWMAC First-Team Honors. In 2019, she helped the Beavers earn their second consecutive NEWMAC regular season title and they also recorded their first win over a nationally-ranked opponent in nearly a decade.   Prior to Babson, Chizmar spent more than 10 years with the Northeast Maryland Select (NEMS) Lacrosse Club. She served as a head coach with the club beginning in 2005 and has had more than 38 of her athletes going on to play at the collegiate level.   She also spent time working for the Coppermine Lacrosse Club from 2013-15 and spent three seasons as a varsity girls assistant coach at the John Carroll School. Chizmar also served as a volunteer assistant coach at Johns Hopkins University during the 2009 season.   Chizmar was a four-year standout at UMBC from 2004-08 and helped the program capture a share of its only America East Conference regular season title in 2006. She earned all-conference honors in both 2007 when she earned All-America East First Team honors and 2008 when she was an All-American East Second Team selection.