Jul 11, 2014 06:18 AM EDT By Staff Reporter, UniversityHerald Reporter

Samantha Aucoin has been hired as the new women's lacrosse head coach at the Midland University.

"I'm really excited for this new chapter in my coaching career at the Midland University," Aucoin said in a statement. "I've spoken with all of the girls on the team and the new recruits this week, and they sound like a motivated group. It's my goal to help build sustained success for the program at Midland."

Aucoin, a native of Henniker, New Hampshire, joins the Warriors program after spending last two years as the head coach at Anna Maria College in Paxton, Massachusetts. Aucoin played lacrosse at the New England College, where she graduated with a degree in sports and recreational management in 2012.

The athletic staff added women's lacrosse, along with men's and women's bowling, men's and women's wrestling, and shotgun sports in 2010. Warriors will compete in the newly realigned West Region of the National Women's Lacrosse League in 2015. The team posted an 8-7 record last season.

Founding schools of the NWLL are Indiana Institute of Technology, Missouri Baptist University, Reinhardt University, Robert Morris University (Illinois), Shorter University and Tennessee Wesleyan College. Conference play began during the 2010-11 season, where Indiana Tech was crowned champion. In the 2011-12 season, the Savannah College of Art and Design claimed the trophy.

Regarded as Canada's national summer game, lacrosse is one of the few NCAA major sports categories where Ivy League schools like Cornell, Princeton, Brown and Yale participate along with strong teams from Syracuse, Notre Dame North Carolina and Ohio State.

"The speed and strategies of the game and how the game is played matches up great with the other sports American kids are playing," said Jim MacKenzie, the integrated marketing manager at New Balance Team Sports. "Lacrosse has elements of football and ice hockey as well as the constant movement of soccer. It's natural in the spring for kids to move over to lacrosse. And playing lacrosse lets a young person carry their identity with them," Sports Business Daily reports.

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