Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 11/4/17
Staff Report
Team 302, a leader in boys’ travel lacrosse for the state of Delaware, has launched a girls’ program behind the leadership of Laurie (Tortorelli) DeLuca.
DeLuca was a high school All-American goalie at Haverford High and college All-American at Delaware where she was a four-year starter in the cage, and team captain. She is the wife of new Delaware head men’s coach Ben DeLuca.
The Team 302 program will open with a free clinic on Dec. 3 at All Seasons Sports Academy, 801 Elkton Blvd., Suite 3, Elkton, MD. The event is for girls in grades 1 through 8; players will be split into groups (Grades 1 to 4, 5-8). Register at prolacrossellc.com.
At Delaware, Tortorelli helped the Hens reach the NCAAs twice. She later was an assistant coach at Cornell for 7 years and co-founded the Ithaca Little Red Lacrosse youth club. Later she was a Volunteer Director of Lacrosse Operations at Duke under fellow Haverford High alum Kerstin Kimel. DeLuca also coached with the Laxachusetts travel and Duxbury Youth programs in Massachusetts.
“It’s great to be back in the area,” said DeLuca. “For me it’s really special. I believe there is a great need for a girls’ program in the state of Delaware. We are located in the perfect spot, between Philadelphia and Baltimore.”
DeLuca helped guide Cornell to one Ivy League title (2006) during her stay in Ithaca and saw 10 defensive players capture All-Ivy honors, including goalkeeper Maggie Fava, who also received third team All-America and Ivy League co-Player of the Year recognition.
A 2002 graduate of Delaware, DeLuca garnered first team All-Mid-Atlantic Region accolades three times and was an IWLCA third team All-American and IWLCA North-South Senior All-Star game selection her final year. After earning America East Rookie of the Year honors in 1999, DeLuca went on to conclude her career at Delaware ranked second all-time in career saves (754), goals against average (9.35), save percentage (.560) and minutes played (3,797).
DeLuca was also a CoSIDA Academic All-American and an IWLCA National Academic Honor Roll selection as an exercise and sport science major at Delaware.