Tricia Molfetta, who was hired to lead the Pace women's lacrosse program in the fall of 2017, has led the Setters to a 91-25 (.784) record during her time in Pleasantville. In 2023, her sixth season at the helm of the Blue and Gold, Molfetta led the Setters to the first national championship in school history with a 21-2 season and a 19-9 win over No. 1 seed West Chester in the NCAA final.
Molfetta and the Setters are coming off an impressive 21-1 season in 2024 where the team was ranked as high as #1 throughout DII women's lacrosse. Following their successful regular season, Pace took down Adelphi University, 16-14, to capture the program's first-ever Northeast-10 Championship Title.
The 2023 Setters were ranked No. 2 nationally for most of the season and went 12-0 in the Northeast-10 Conference, winning the league's regular-season title and No. 1 seed of the conference tournament. Pace was the NE10 Championship runners up, losing 14-13 to No. 2 seed LeMoyne, but rallied with a 16-10 win over New Haven in the first round of the NCAA East Regional First Round and a 14-5 win over Adelphi in the Regional Final. During NCAA Championship weekend, the Setter defeated Florida Southern 22-11 before winning it all to put a feather in the cap of a near perfect season. The Blue and Gold were the No. 1 seed in the East Region as a first-time NCAA tournament squad.
The program has developed extensively with Molfetta as head coach. Since the 2020 COVID stoppage, Mofetta's teams went 9-4 in 2021 (.692), 14-5 in 2022 (.737) to the 21-2 (.913) season in 2023.
In 2019, the Setters won eight of their final nine contests of the regular season, entering the postseason on a seven-game winning streak. Pace was ranked in every IWLCA National Poll of the season, climbing to as high as No. 11 in mid-March. The 2019 Setter finished 9-4 and earned a No. 3 seed in the NE10 Tournament.
In Molfetta's first year, the Setters completed the year with a school-record mark of 14-5, including a program-best 10 wins inside the NE10. The Blue and Gold then went on to host, and win, their first-ever NE10 Playoff game against Bentley by a score of 18-10.
Molfetta came to Pleasantville in the fall of 2017 after spending three years at Manhattanville College, where she served as top assistant for one season before being named head coach in 2016. Most recently, Molfetta led the Valiants to one of their best seasons in school history. Manhattanville put together an 11-6 record this past spring, tying the program's single-season win total. In addition, the Valiants made an appearance in the MAC Freedom Tournament semifinals for the first time in four seasons.
All in all, Molfetta's 17 wins during her two seasons at the helm of Manhattanville are the most in a two-year span in nearly a decade. In addition to the team's success, Molfetta helped seven Valiants earn All-Mac Freedom honors, including a school-record five players in 2017.
Before her time with the Valiants, Molfetta served as an assistant coach at Purchase College. She also founded and served as the head coach of the women's lacrosse team at Rye Neck High School.
Leadership has always been a strong suit for Molfetta, who served as a two-year team captain during her playing days at Stony Brook University. Molfetta was a four-year starter for the Division I program, where she totaled 12 goals and 71 ground balls in 50 career games with the Seawolves.
