VAND'AL Lacrosse teaches girls and young women how to play women's lacrosse and a whole lot more. We coach out-of-season programs in the summer and fall, organize camps and clinics, and women's lacrosse events throughout the northwest.
Founded by childhood friends Craig Van Der Horn and Tony D'Alessio, VAND'AL Lacrosse has been helping girls get better at women's lacrosse since 2006.
Coach Craig Van Der Horn
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 that club 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.
Claire Monsaas
Green Team Head Coach
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 Samm. team
to place 2nd in state two back-to-back years. 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 continuing to play lacrosse at Gonzaga University, she was a
three-year captain and club president. She helped bring the team to their first
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 has been coaching for Vand'al since 2017, earning her first Head Coach championship at the Park City Showdown in June 2018! She will now be stepping into her new role as the Green Team Head Coach this Summer. She's a Level 1 US Lacrosse Certified Coach, coaches for Lakeside's lacrosse program 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.
Playing Experience
Lake Sammamish Youth Lacrosse 2005-2010
Lake Sammamish High School Lacrosse 2010-2013
(All State-1st Team selection 2010-13 & All-American 2012 & 2013)
Puget Sound Select 2010-2013
Gonzaga University 2013-2017
(GU Women's Lacrosse - President of the Board & Player-Coach 2015-2017)
Seattle Women's Lacrosse (post-collegiate) 2017-Current
Coaching Experience
Lake Sammamish Assistant Coach 3/4th and 5/6th grade 2010-13
Vand'al Green Team Assistant 2017 - 2018
Coached Issaquah JV Spring 2018
Vand'al White Team Head Coach 2018 - 2019
Vand'al Green Team Head Coach 2019 - Current
Currently coaching at Lakeside High School
Level 1 US Lacrosse Certified Coach
Coaching Championship - Park City Showdown 2018
Umpire Experience
Umpired 5/6th and 7/8th grade games 2010-2013
Grace Reid
Head Coach White Team
Grace Reid joins Vand'al as White Team Head Coach this summer. Grace is a Seattle, WA native and graduate of the University of Puget Sound. She began playing lacrosse for Lake Sammamish Lacrosse Club and continued playing through college for the NCAA DIII Puget Sound Loggers, where she served as captain her senior year. Since graduating, Grace has been coaching in the South Sound and developing players at both the youth and high school level. She led the Bellarmine Prep varsity program to their first-ever winning season and 1st place conference finish in 2015. She also founded 253 Lacrosse, an organization that provides camps, clinics, and other out-of-season opportunities for players of all skill levels in the South Sound. In addition to several years with the Bellarmine Prep Lions, Grace has also coached the University Place Vikings youth, Stadium High School varsity, Tacoma Tigers new player clinics, and North Cascades Club Lacrosse (high school and youth). Since moving back to Seattle, Grace spent her first season with Vand'al this past fall/winter and is excited to keep the good vibes going this summer!
Playing Experience
Lake Sammamish Lacrosse 2004-2008
Seattle Rainz 2006-2008
University of Puget Sound, Captain 2008-2012
Coaching Experience
University Place Vikings Youth, Assistant Coach 2013
Stadium High School Varsity, Assistant Coach 2014
Bellarmine Preparatory School Varsity, Head Coach 2015-2017
North Cascades Lacrosse Club, Coach 2014-2017
253 Lacrosse, Founder & Camp Director 2015-Current
Vand'al Lacrosse, Assistant Coach 2018 - 2019
Vand'al Lacrosse Head Coach White Team 2019-Current
Dave Rezoski
Vand'al Assistant Coach
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.
Rebecca Tharp
Vand'al Assistant Coach
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 teams Head Coach for two seasons. From there Rebecca
coached for the Lake Sammamish Lacrosse Club at the High School level in
2016. She has been coaching with Vand'al Lax for the past seven seasons as an
Assistant Coach with the White Team. 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.
Playing Experience
Bishop O'Dowd High School 2007-2011
Seattle University 2011-2015
Coaching Experience
Seattle University Head Coach 2015-2016
Lake Sammamish Co-Head Coach 2016
Vand'al Assistant Coach 2016-Current
Jenny Todd
Vand'al Assistant Coach
Playing
Experience
Issaquah school district: (2012-2016) senior captain
Vand'al Lacrosse: (2014-2015)
Seattle Starz Lacrosse: (2016)
Washington State: (2016-2018) Freshman captain, then regular captain
Coaching Experience
Vand'al Lacrosse 2017-2019
Larry Jorgensen
Vand'al Assistant Coach & Super Dad
Larry's coaching career began humbly by watching our co-founders, Coach
Craig and Coach Tony, at his daughters�¢?? practices as a youth player.
Larry has been a part of the Vand'al Lacrosse experience for over seven
years. During these years he has absorbed the Vand'al philosophy and the technical
skills needed for coaching. He put these skills into action over the past
five spring seasons as a coach for the Issaquah School Districts youth
lacrosse program. In the off-season Larry continued to come out for Vand'al
practices and traveled with the teams for tournaments. It was inevitable
that he would become a part of the Vand'al coaching staff. For the past three
years Larry has been an assistant coach at the High School and Middle School
levels. The Vand'al Family can always count on Larry being at practice or on
the road for tourneys with a positive attitude; ready to do whatever it takes
to make our players better!