Haley Warden - Lacrosse Coach - James Madison University Athletics

Haley Warden

Title:
Assistant Coach
Email:
wardenhn@jmu.edu
Phone:
540-435-3961

Two-time JMU All-American Haley Warden was hired as an assistant coach with the James Madison University lacrosse staff on August 1, 2019.

In her role, Warden will serve as the offensive coordinator and manage draw controls, an area in which she is the program’s all-time leader.

In Warden’s third season as assistant coach, she guided several players to nationally-ranked performances on the attack and on the draw. Isabella Peterson scored 72 goals and grabbed 102 draw controls, ranking eighth and T-36th in the nation, respectively. Katie Checkosky ranked sixth in the nation with 45 total assists. Rachel Matey was tied for third in the CAA and 50th in Division I with 93 draw controls on the season. Both Peterson (third) and Matey (fourth) finished top-5 for a single season in draw controls in JMU history.

In her first season coaching at her alma mater, she helped JMU to a 5-1 record before the season was canceled due to COVID-19. During the shortened campaign, the Dukes ranked ninth nationally and second in the CAA in draw-control percentage (.609). Two players ranked in the top four of the CAA in draw controls, as Maddie McDaniel was third (4.67) and Rachel Matey was fourth (4.5).

JMU was second in the league and 25th in Division I in scoring margin (+3.67) and won two of its five games by double digits.

A 2018 graduate of JMU, Warden was a two-time All-American while playing for the Dukes from 2015-18. She became the first player in Colonial Athletic Association history to win both Player of the Year (2017) and Defensive Player of the Year (2018) while also being the first athlete to take home CAA Championship Most Outstanding Performer honors in consecutive seasons.

She helped lead JMU to its first national championship as a senior in 2018, earning NCAA Championship Most Outstanding Performer after scoring nine goals with 13 draw controls over Championship Weekend, which included netting the game-winner and gaining the final draw control to clinch the title for JMU. Warden is a three-time All-CAA selection, earning First Team honors in 2017 and 2018 and a Second Team award in 2016.

Warden finished her career with 101 goals and 33 assists, to go with 245 draw controls, 119 caused turnovers and 146 ground balls. She is JMU’s all-time career leader in both draw controls and caused turnovers while also ranking seventh in ground balls. She holds JMU’s top two spots in JMU single-season history in caused turnovers with 47 in 2017 and 45 in 2018. She’s also second and sixth, respectively with 108 draws in 2018 and 69 in 2017.

“Being able to understand the student-athletes on a deeper level than some other coaches is going to be an advantage for us,” Warden said. “Sometimes they need that coach who can help them through some of the struggles that I went through in previous years. Being able to help in that aspect is going to be great for team chemistry and help with the growth of our mental game and mindset.”

Following her collegiate career, Warden has played both at the professional and global level, playing for the WPLL Pride since 2018. During the 2019 season, she set the WPLL single-game draws record, with 11, to earn Player of the Week honors. She also spent time training with the U.S. Women’s National Team this past year.

Warden began her coaching career in the summer of 2017, serving as head coach for Ultimate Lacrosse Club. She also led Cardinal Lacrosse Club in summer 2019 and was an assistant coach for the Madeira School for the spring 2019 term. Warden also spent the fall 2018 semester at JMU as a volunteer assistant during the team’s fall season and off-season workouts.

Aside from coaching, Warden worked as a marketing intern for STX following her graduation from JMU and is presently an STX Athlete, creating and promoting content to grow the STX brand. She also appeared as the face of the Axxis promotional video. Most recently, Warden was working as a consultant at CapTech Ventures, Inc.