Olivia Duarte took over the coaching reigns of the JWU (Providence) women’s lacrosse program in July, 2023 and subsequently guided the program to back-to-back Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Championship appearances, capturing the chip in 2024.
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 in goals with 429, 119 of which came during her senior campaign. She was named First Team All-America in both 2016 and 2017, and most recently competed for Team Argentina at the Heritage Cup in May, 2024.
