Craig Van Der Horn is a founding partner of VAND'AL Lacrosse. Craig was also the Varsity Head Coach for Bellevue East Lacrosse, where he led the team to the Division II State Championship in 2011. Craig was awarded the Division II title of "Coach of the Year" in 2007 while coaching for Mercer Island. In the past, he's coached for Seattle Rainz and he currently teaches high school and youth camps and clinics throughout the northwest.

"I have often said that Coach Craig is a life coach; he goes way beyond coaching a sport - he teaches life skills. He also exemplifies integrity, sportsmanlike conduct, and enthusiasm for playing hard but clean. I have never before seen his level of coaching quality, all while maintaining an easy sense of humor," Gail Wolz, Parent.

Grace H is a proud alumna of Eastlake HS, Lake Sammamish Lacrosse, and the inaugural Vand'al squad!

Grace was introduced to lacrosse as a 3rd grader in Long Island, N.Y., but found her love for the sport after moving to the Seattle area as a middle schooler. Coached by Vand'al co-founder Tony D'Alessio, and playing alongside Coach Claire, Grace helped take Lake Sammamish to its first division one State Championship appearance in 2012 as a two time Varsity captain and first team All-State goalie. Grace graduated from American University with a degree in PR & Strategic Communications, a minor in Education Studies, and a certificate in Advanced Leadership Studies. She went on to work in political and tech communications in Ohio and New York before returning to Seattle to be closer to family and better skiing.

Grace is USA Lacrosse Level 1 Certified and has been coaching for the Vand'al Select team for five seasons, winning an ADRLN Western Shootout title last summer. She is also the Varsity Head Coach and Program Director for Woodinville Girls Lacrosse. Previously, Grace was a Varsity Assistant and Goalie Coach at Eastlake High School, supporting the team to a 7-1-1 2020 season, and a surge from 18th to 5th in the state power rankings. Grace believes in developing players as leaders on and off the field, and loves doing so in the community where she grew up.

Rebecca started playing lacrosse during her High School years in the San Francisco Bay Area. She continued to play as a midfielder for three years at Seattle University. After playing for Seattle U, she moved on to become the team's Head Coach for two seasons. From there, Rebecca coached for the Lake Sammamish Lacrosse Club at the High School level in 2016.  

She's been coaching with Vand'al since 2016 and her passion for coaching and having an impact on her players lives has continued to grow stronger as a member of the Vand'al Lacrosse coaching staff.

Dave spent the first 23 years of his life living on the east coast, mostly in Connecticut. He started playing lacrosse in high school, and continued playing in college at the NCAA DII level at New Hampshire College (now Southern New Hampshire University). More than 30 years later, Dave still frequently plays both indoor and field lacrosse. He played for 15 years with the Seattle Lacrosse Club men's team in the Pacific Northwest Lacrosse Association 'A' league. He has spent the past several years playing in the Cascade Men's Lacrosse League on the Seattle Classics team. Dave has traveled to several states and played in dozens of men's lacrosse tournaments over the past 20 years, including Washington, Oregon, Nevada, California, and Hawaii.

With two daughters who started playing girls' lacrosse in 2012, Dave knew he had to get involved in coaching. Since 2012, Dave has coached girls' lacrosse at the youth, middle-school, and high-school level. Dave spent five years coaching for the Mount Si Girls Lacrosse Club and was one of two coaches involved in starting the Mount Si Girls' High School program. He coached High School girls for three years. Dave has been coaching at the High School level with the Vand'al Lacrosse Club since 2016. He has his USL Level 1 and 2 women's coaching certifications from US Lacrosse, and is currently working towards his Level 3 certification.

Amelia "Mealz" grew up in the Seattle area and has played lacrosse for more than 17 years as a midfielder. In high school, she played for Lake Sammamish (coached by Vand'al co-founder, Tony D'Alessio), where the team placed 2nd in State for three years in a row. Mealz traveled with Vand'al when the program was brand new and is overwhelmingly happy to see how much it's grown. Mealz played lacrosse at WWU where she was a captain and coach for 2 years, leading them to win regionals twice and off to Nationals. She was also awarded midfield MVP for the NWWLL league in 2017, and was the top draw controller 2016-2018.

Mealz is a Level 1 US Lacrosse Certified Coach. She began coaching in Bellingham until COVID hit, when she moved back to Seattle and now coaches for Lakeside HS. She started coaching for Vand'al in the Fall of 2021 and loves creating a fun yet competitive atmosphere for players to feel a sense of self and pride in their game. 

Ellen began playing lacrosse in the San Francisco Bay Area. She played four years of Varsity lacrosse at Palo Alto High School and continued her lacrosse career at the University of Washington. Ellen served as President of the UW team for the 2020-2021 season. During her senior year, she was a team captain and ranked 10th in the WCLA for total points. She was named Attack MVP for the Northwest Women's Lacrosse League and received the "For the Love of the Game" Award.

Ellen began her coaching career with Vand'al Lacrosse in the Summer of 2020, and has worked with the Select team her entire time with the club. Ellen aspires to create a positive environment in which players want to push themselves to become better athletes, lacrosse players, and people. Ellen is a USA Lacrosse Level 1 Certified coach.

Lily grew up watching her two older sisters play lacrosse and once she was finally able to join a team in 2nd grade, she hasn’t been able to put the stick down. She played in high school for Lake Sammamish where she was named midfield all-state, and 3 times all conference. In the HS offseason, she played 3 years on the Vand’al Elite team with Tony D’Alessio (Vand’al co-founder) as her coach. She later went on the play at University of Washington where she helped the team win regionals and go to the WCLA National Championship tournament her junior and senior year. She also got the most draw controls and ground balls in the league.

Lily has been assistant coaching for the Lakeside HS team for 3 years and is excited to start coaching for Vand’al alongside her alum UW teammate Ellen and sister Amelia.

Rachael has been playing lacrosse for 10+ years. She began playing her sophomore year of highschool as a defensive midfielder, then went on to play 4 years of club lacrosse at the University of Washington as a defender. After graduating from UW, she began working at UW in an environmental microbiology research laboratory. Her involvement at the university allowed her to begin coaching with the UW club team in 2018. In Fall of 2019, she started her coaching career with Vand’al on the Next Level team. Rachael is a defensively oriented coach with experience as a women’s lacrosse referee. She focuses on teaching players to play cleanly, and with a “smarter not harder” mentality.

Catherine’s love for lacrosse started in third grade on Long Island, NY. In high school she played midfield for Bay Shore High School and club lacrosse for the Long Island Yellow Jackets. Catherine pursued the sport in North Carolina, where she played for four years on Davidson College’s NCAA DI women’s lacrosse team. She saw Steph Curry on campus one time.

After graduating from Davidson, Catherine traded her cleats for a whistle and has loved coaching youth lacrosse teams in California, Montana, and Washington ever since. Catherine is a USA Level 1 Lacrosse Certified coach.

Olivia began playing lacrosse in the greater Seattle area more than 10 years ago. She was a part of the Lake Samm program all throughout high school where she was a captain her senior year and won an All-Conference defense award. Olivia is also a Vand’al alumni, she started playing for Vand’al in middle school on the Local team. She then spent three years on the Vand’al Elite team with Tony D’Alessio (Vand’al co-founder) as her coach. After graduating high school and transferring to the University of Washington she joined the lacrosse team there and continues to play on that team today.

Olivia started coaching in 2019 with Vand’al as an assistant coach for Next Level. Outside of Vand’al, during the spring season, she spent three years as an assistant JV coach for Eastlake Girls Lacrosse. Now she’s currently the assistant Varsity coach for the Mount Si Girls Lacrosse program. Through the past few years she has coached a variety of teams in the Vand’al program, and is now the head coach for the Aspire team. Olivia’s guiding principle as a coach has always been to make sure her players not only play for themselves, but their teammates as well.

Essa began playing lacrosse in fourth grade in the Woodinville area. She played four years of varsity lacrosse at Woodinville High School and is now a sophomore at the University of Washington, playing on their club team. She plays primarily attack and midfield!

Essa also played with Vandal’s select and elite teams all throughout high school, traveling to tournaments across the west coast. She began coaching at Vand’al for the first time during the 2023 summer season with the Aspire team. She is an offensively oriented coach and hopes to help young players gain a better understanding of the game while improving their skills and having fun! ”

Zara started her coaching career in Colorado, and has joined Vand’al this past season, summer 2023. She has greatly enjoyed being welcomed into the Vand’al family, and is very excited to continue her coaching journey with Vand’al lacrosse!

Claire has played lacrosse in Washington for 15+ years. She was coached by the co-founder of Vand'al Lacrosse, Tony D'Alessio, in High School, leading his Lake Sammamish team to place 2nd in State two back-to-back years (with Coaches Grace and Amelia!). Claire made All-State each year and was a two-time All-American in 2012 & 2013, being one of the top 80 chosen to attend the All-American Showcase in Orlando, Florida in July 2013. Claire continued to play lacrosse at Gonzaga University, where she was a three-year captain and club president. She helped bring the team to their first WCLA National Tournament in 2014, where they placed 11th in the nation for Club DII, and aided in the transition of the team from Club DII to Club DI in 2015. She currently plays for the Seattle Women's post-collegiate lacrosse team.

Claire is a US Lacrosse Level 1 Certified Coach, has been coaching for Vand'al since 2017, and is the Varsity Assistant and Program Head for Lakeside Girls Lacrosse during the Spring season. Claire understands the importance of time management from being a 3-sport athlete all throughout middle and high school, as well as playing a club sport all throughout college. With an understanding of the college recruiting process, she aims to help girls find a team AND school that best fits them.