Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 1/10/10
From Press Releases and Staff Reports
Drexel men’s lacrosse coach and former Philadelphia Wings great Brian Voelker will be inducted into the Greater Baltimore chapter of the US Lacrosse Hall of Fame on Jan. 23 at the Grand Lodge of Maryland in Hunt Valley, MD.
Voelker, who played at the Gilman School and Johns Hopkins University, will be joined as inductees by Shelley Klaes Bawcombe (Loch Raven High player and James Madison player, coach); Theresa Ingram Kuhar (Maryland player and Brown coach); Laura Biggs Moan (Garrison Forest and Boston College player, coach at four colleges); Cathy Reese (Mount Hebron and Maryland player and Denver, Maryland coach); Rob Shek (Bel Air, Towson and U.S. national player); Martin D. “Mitch” Tullai (longtime official, contributor); Peggy Boutilier Williams (Roland Park and Virginia player); and Matt Wilson (Half Hollow Hills, N.Y., and Washington College player).
The ceremony begins at 5:30 p.m. and includes a reception and dinner. Tickets are $90. Contact Kerri O’Day at kjoday@hotmail.com or call 410-925-1897
Voelker, who resides in Ardmore, became the sixth head coach in Drexel history when he was hired on July 13, 2009. He brought to Drexel an impressive resume as a head coach, an assistant coach and a player. Voelker came to Drexel after serving as the head coach at the University of Pennsylvania for the previous seven seasons. At Penn, he helped return the Quakers to national prominence.
Voelker, a Baltimore native, has been part of seven NCAA tournament teams as a coach and four more as a player. He coached the Quakers to a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances during his tenure at the school. In 2004, Voelker guided Penn back to the Tournament after a 15-year absence from the postseason. Penn’s season came to an end with a loss Navy, who went on to play in the NCAA title game.
Two years later, Voelker had Penn back in the national spotlight. The Quakers recorded their best season since 1988, compiling a 10-4 overall record and a 4-2 mark in Ivy-League play. The four wins were the most Ivy victories for the school in 17 years. The Quakers were ranked as high as No. 7 nationally during the regular season, and at the end of the year they received an at-large bid into the NCAA Championship for the second time in three years. Penn fell to defending national champion Johns Hopkins in the first round of the tournament.
Voelker took over as Penn’s 24th men’s lacrosse coach prior to the 2003 season. He led the Quakers to a .500 or better record in three straight seasons in Ivy play (2004-2006), the first time since 1989 at Penn, and in four of the last six years. During those six years the Ivy League, a perennial power in men’s lacrosse, placed 14 teams in the NCAA Tournament. Before Voelker’s arrival in University City, the Quakers had just four .500 seasons in the previous 14 years.
Voelker played for the United States World Team in both 1994 and 1998. Both teams won the tournament. In 1998, he was named to the All-Tournament Team and was selected as the Top Defensive Player of the games. Voelker played for three championship teams, and was captain of the 1998 team, during his seven seasons as a member of the Philadelphia Wings. He also won a title while playing with the Long Island Lizards of Major League Lacrosse.
Before his arrival at Penn, Voelker was the head coach and assistant general manager for the Baltimore Bayhawks of Major League Lacrosse. He coached the 2001 National Division championship team and was selected to coach in the MLL’s Inaugural All-Star Game. He previously served for five seasons as an assistant coach and defensive coordinator at Johns Hopkins. The 1999 and 2000 teams advanced to the NCAA Semifinals.
The Hopkins graduate returned to his alma mater as an assistant coach in 1997. Voelker served as the Blue Jays’ defensive coordinator from 1997-2001 and helped lead Hopkins to four NCAA berths, including two NCAA Final Fours and an NCAA quarterfinal appearance. He had 21 of his players named All-Americans, including seven first team selections.
After he graduated in 1991 with a degree in sociology, Voelker took his first assistant coaching position under Bill Tierney at Princeton University. The Tigers won the national championship in his only year at the school, when he served as the team’s defensive coordinator. His defense produced both the NCAA’s William C. Schmeisser Award winner, for the top defenseman in the nation (David Morrow), and the Ensign C. Markland Kelly Award winner, for the country’s top goaltender (Scott Bacigalupo).
Voelker was a defenseman and a three-time All-American for the Blue Jays as an undergraduate. He earned First Team All-America honors as a senior, when he served as a captain, and was the recipient of the Sidney C. Erlanger Trophy as the most outstanding senior and the 1941 Team Shaffer Award as the Blue Jays’ most outstanding defensive player, an award he won twice. Voelker was a Third Team All-American selection as both a sophomore and a junior. During his sophomore season, the Blue Jays advanced to the 1989 NCAA championship game.
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