University of Pennsylvania Athletics

Caroline Curnal joined the women's lacrosse coaching staff in the summer of 2023 after finishing up a successful playing career at Villanova.

Curnal's first season with the Quakers was certainly a memorable one, as Penn went 15-5 and advanced all the way to the NCAA quarterfinal round in 2024. Penn ranked as high as fifth during the course of the regular season, boasted one of the strongest defensive units in the country, and saw Niki Miles break program records for draw controls in a game (14 in an ILT semifinal win over Princeton) and a season (119). Miles was one of four first-team All-Ivy and three All-Americans on the roster, and another of those All-America picks (Izzy Rohr) was the Ivy League Defender of the Year for the second straight season.

Curnal's four-year stint with the Wildcats was capped off in 2023 as the team captain and draw specialist, as she broke the program's career draw record with 382 and the single-single season mark with 155. She finished with 41 goals and eight assists, scoring in 14 of the 17 games, and earned a spot on the All-BIG EAST first team. That was her second appearance on the first team, as she also garnered the honor in 2022 when she also was first-team IWLCA All-Region.

Through her four years at Villanova, Curnal started 47 of the 54 games she played in, totaling 94 points and 17 assists for 111 points. In addition to her record 382 draws, Curnal had 34 ground balls and 14 caused turnovers.

Curnal's first collegiate season was spent at Lafayette, where she started 15 games her freshman year and led the team in draws (76) while adding 10 ground balls and six caused turnovers. 

A product of Ridgefield (Conn.) High School, she led her team to an FCIAC championship runner-up and state championship runner-up finish her junior and senior seasons. Among her decorated list of high school honors, she was named a US Lacrosse All-America her senior year and was selected to represent Connecticut at the US Lacrosse national tournament in 2017. She was also named the 2017 Connecticut Female Athlete of the Year. 

Curnal graduated from Villanova with a degree in communications with a focus on media production and media studies.