Olivia Duarte begins her fourth season as head coach of the JWU (Providence) women’s lacrosse program in 2027. The Wildcats have posted a record of 38-18 during that span (.679 winning pct.) and compiled three playoff appearances, advanced to the championship game twice, and captured the 2024 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GAC) Championship.
The Wildcats won 10 games this past season – their first as a member of the Conference of New England) – and advanced to the conference semifinals. Led by a trio of first-year student-athletes in Riley Shepley, Sidney Mayers, and Cassie Burke – JWU posted a 7-3 conference mark and closed the regular season winning eight of the last 10 games. Shepley took home CNE Rookie of the Year honors while five others were named to All-Conference teams.
Duarte came to JWU after spending the 2022-23 campaign as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at the University of Findlay in Ohio. The Oilers won nine games in 2023 and advanced to the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) Championship, where they suffered a one-goal loss. Three of Duarte’s student-athletes received major G-MAC awards: Danielle Dilorenzo (Offensive Player of the Year), Rachel Bornstein (Goalkeeper of the Year), and Tessa Chuba (Freshman of the Year).
During her time at Findlay, Duarte created daily practice plans and led both individual and small group sessions, developed offensive schemes and plays, analyzed and broke down game and practice film, coordinated team travel, designed off-season workout programs, and managed the team’s social media accounts.
Duarte – who had previous coaching stints as the head coach at both Rippin’ Rope Lacrosse Camps (2017-23) and Phantoms & Greene Turtle Lacrosse Club (2018-23), as well as Carvel Academy (2022) – was a four-year member of the Colgate University lacrosse program (2017-21) before spending her final year of eligibility at Lindenwood University (2022). She appeared in 42 games for the Raiders and earned Patriot League All-Tournament Team honors following the 2021 campaign. Duarte then played nine games for the Lions the following spring, racking up eight ground balls and eight caused turnovers.
A native of Middletown, Delaware, Duarte graduated Carvel Academy as the state’s all-time leader with 429 goals, 119 of which came during her senior campaign. She was named First Team All-America in both 2016 and 2017.
Duarte is a member of Team Argentina and helped them to a third-place finish at the Heritage Cup in 2024.
