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History
The Kutztown University women’s lacrosse team first began play in 1975. Susan Miller was selected to guide the team as it competed at
the club level in its first season as a team. When the team reached varsity status in 1976, its first official year of competition, the Golden
Bears were 5-7.
The following year, Veronica Lawson took over and guided the program to its first winning season with a 9-5-1 record. Elaine Santo took
over for Lawson after one year and piloted the squad to a 7-3-2 record.
In 1979, KU named Jocelyn Beck its fourth head coach. Beck went on to guide the program for the next six seasons and built the
program into one of the best in the region. In her first three years at the helm, she compiled a record of 12-19-4. In 1982, the program
reached elite status, as the Golden Bears went 13-1-1 and captured the first PSAC Championship in any Kutztown women’s sport.
In 2001, the team was named one of the top six championship teams in KU athletics history.
Beck and the Golden Bears continued to make their mark as a conference power the next two seasons, as the team went 10-3 in 1983
and 9-2-1 in 1984, but fell in the PSAC Championship game both years.
In 1985, Beck stepped down as head lacrosse coach, but remained on board as an assistant coach for the following year.
Betty Wesner, KU’s long-time field hockey coach, replaced Beck and served as head coach for the next six years. In her first two sea-
sons, the team struggled with a combined 4-18 record. In the last four seasons, the Golden Bears were 27-25 under Wesner’s guid-
ance until the program was discontinued, along with men’s lacrosse and men’s golf following the 1990 season.
Wesner compiled a career record of 31-43 in six seasons as head women’s lacrosse coach.
On Aug. 7, 2007, Kutztown University Athletic Director Greg Bamberger announced the hiring of Sarah Greer, a KU graduate and
alumna of the field hockey program, as women’s lacrosse was re-established at Kutztown.
Greer coached the program for five years (2008-12) and led the team to 16 wins over the time, including the team’s first win in the
PSAC in 2012.
In 2013, Kate Scattergood was hired as the head coach and continues to move the program in a positive direction.
Women’s Lacrosse Players in KU Athletics Hall of Fame
Mary Ann Botto-Harvey – Attack (1979-82)
Botto-Harvey was a four-year member of the women’s lacrosse team. She scored 60 goals
as the left-attack winger during KU’s 1982 PSAC title season. She was inducted into the KU Hall of Fame in 2008.
Barb Francis - Attack (1975-79)
Francis was a four-year starter and offensive team leader in the early days of KU women’s lacrosse.
She was the first Golden Bear to participate in the United States Women’s Lacrosse Association All-Star Game. She was enshrined in
the KU Hall of Fame in 1993.
Jane Geyer – Attack (1982-84)
Geyer was a two-time All-American and is the second-leading goal scorer in program history with 127
goals. In 2000, she was named as one of the top female athletes of the 1980s, and was also inducted into the hall of fame.
Gwen Kerr – Goalkeeper (1986-89)
Kerr holds the career record for saves with 747, and was indcuted to the hall of fame in 1994.
Denise Long – Goalkeeper (1980-84)
Long was a three-year starting goalie from 1981-84 and was named to the All-PSAC squad in
both her junior and senior seasons. She was inducted into the hall of fame in 1989.
Donna Long – Defense (1981-85)
The younger sister of fellow hall of famer Denise, Donna was a four-year starting defender and was
All-PSAC in 1983. She was inducted into the hall in 2002.