Kathy Taylor begins her fifth season as Cortland's women's lacrosse head coach in 2013. In her first four seasons, she has led Cortland to a combined 72-14 record (.837), four State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) tournament titles and four NCAA Div. III tournament appearances. Ten of her players have earned IWLCA All-America honors, including three each in 2012, 2010 and 2009.
In 2012, Taylor led Cortland to a 20-2 record, the program's 14th straight SUNYAC title and a return trip to the NCAA Div. III semifinals. The Red Dragons won 19 straight games, featuring three NCAA wins, before losing 7-5 to eventual national champion Trinity (Conn.) in the Final Four. Following the season, she earned IWLCA Empire Region Coach of the Years honors for a second time and coached the North squad to a victory at the IWLCA North-South Senior All-Star Game.
In 2011, Taylor's squad finished 21-2 for the most wins in a season in program history. Cortland won the SUNYAC title and also had a 19-game win streak with three NCAA triumphs before falling 13-11 to eventual national champion Gettysburg in the Div. III Final Four. Taylor was named the IWLCA Empire Region Coach of the Year, the ECAC Upstate New York Coach of the Year and the SUNYAC Coach of the Year for her efforts.
In 2010, Cortland finished 17-3 overall and was unbeaten in SUNYAC play on its way to a league crown. All three of the Red Dragons' losses were by just one goal, including a regular-season setback to eventual national runner-up Hamilton and a second-round NCAA loss to Colby. In 2009, her squad went 14-7 and rebounded from a second-place SUNYAC regular-season finish to win the conference tournament.
Prior to her arrival at Cortland, Taylor was a highly successful girls' lacrosse coach at Fayetteville-Manlius (N.Y.) High School from 1988 to 2006. During that stretch, her teams posted an overall record of 245-62-3 (.795), won two New York State Class A titles (2004 and 2005) and five Section III crowns.
The two-time Central New York Coach of the Year coached 12 high school All-Americans and five United States National Team players while developing the growth of the Fayetteville-Manlius program from one to five teams.
Taylor has also served as a New York State National Tournament Coach at a recruiting tournament for high school girls looking to compete at the highest collegiate level. She coached the New York State number-two team in 2004 and led the state's number-one team to the championship game in 2005. Taylor also guided the North team to a victory in the 2006 Under Armour All-America Lacrosse Classic at Towson University.
In addition to her coaching duties, Taylor was the Section III girls' lacrosse chair, represented the section on the New York State Lacrosse Committee from 2000-02 and served as the All-America Lacrosse Committee chair from 2003-06. She founded the Rising Star Lacrosse Camp in Fayetteville to teach lacrosse skills to younger age groups, and has directed the camp since 1998.
A 1984 Cornell University alumna with a bachelor's degree in communications, Taylor played varsity lacrosse for the Big Red from 1982-84. The former Kathy Milmoe, she became the first Cornell women's player to earn first-team All-Ivy League honors during her senior season.
A native of Canastota, N.Y., Taylor and her husband, Joseph, reside in Manlius and have three children - Kelly, Kristen and Matthew. Kelly and Kristen were standout players under their mother's guidance at Fayetteville-Manlius and played for the 2009 NCAA Division I runner-up University of North Carolina. Matthew currently plays at Division I Cornell University. Joseph was a four-year letterwinner at Cornell and played on the Big Red's 1977 national championship team and 1978 national runner-up squad.
