Passing the Stick with Pride

Kelly just completed her first season, a tough grind through the rugged New England Small College Athletic Conference. She did that while pregnant — she and her husband, D.C. Kelly, welcomed son Cade on May 3 — and the Continentals finished 6–8, improving steadily as the season progressed.

The new head coach sees a bright future.

“When I came on my [admission] recruiting visit, I told Patty that we were going to win a national championship together and I meant it,” Kelly said. “My sentiments have not changed in this second chapter, and my ultimate goal is to bring the title back to the Hill.”

With her Princess Leia hairdo and scary face paint, the Orangeville, Ontario, native was a highly skilled, game-wise, fearless, tough-minded, incredibly competitive, and — no joke — intimidating player. A two-time All-American, and three-time Liberty League champion, her teams went 65–12 over four seasons. She holds Hamilton records for goals, assists, and points, and was the wheelhorse of that 2008 NCAA Division III championship team that finished 21–1, including a 13–6 win over Franklin & Marshall in the title game. Nicole Tetreault ’08, Kate Marek ’09, and Jennifer McGowan ’08 also were All-Americans on a squad loaded with talent.

Kloidt stepped down from the head coaching role last year after going 220–127 with five league championships and 17 postseason appearances in 22 seasons. She will continue to teach in Hamilton’s Physical Education Department and help guide event management and other College initiatives until her retirement in June 2026.

The former coach is beyond thrilled Kelly is back.

“She had such a love for the game, a unique and special IQ for the game, and she always remained a student of the game,” Kloidt said. “She was always committed to learning her craft and elevating her teammates to see the game as she saw it. She put that team on her back.”

And as coach?

“She is an incredible teacher,” Kloidt said. “She instills love and enthusiasm for the game with people of all ages. She’ll make it fun. She’ll make the players want to learn their craft the way she did. That is enough to spark the players’ intrinsic motivation. She has the ability to bring that out in people.”

After Hamilton, Kelly built Lincoln-Sudbury High School into a powerhouse, winning a Massachusetts state title and coach of the year honors in 2023. And she and her husband run Central Lacrosse, which has taught the game to hundreds of girls since 2018.

“On the field, you are always most successful when you work together ... you genuinely share the successes of the people around you because everyone has a role to play.”

Kelly began playing box lacrosse at age 3 on a boys’ team.

“They call it the ‘medicine game’ for a reason — there is something so special about the feeling you get when you’re around the lacrosse field that is unlike anything else,” she said. “On the field, you are always most successful when you work together, whether it’s on offense or defense, so I think one of my favorite parts of the game is how it instills the importance of teamwork; you genuinely share the successes of the people around you because everyone has a role to play.”

She wasn’t always treated well playing with boys and men, but she learned from them, spending hours in her yard copying their moves. Then, in high school, she was coached by Canadian national teamers Tami Jones and Jessica Brownridge, who worked their players hard but also made the game fun.

“I like to joke around and have a very positive attitude, so that is the environment I like to create on the field,” Kelly said. “My agreement with my team is that I will always work as hard as I can to set them up for success, and in turn, they will give us their best effort and attitude. My ultimate goal is for every player to leave this program having had the same amazing experience, heart, and look back on my years here as the stuff dreams are made of. I’m so honored to have the opportunity to create that same experience for this next generation in a place that I love so much.”

“My agreement with my team is that I will always work as hard as I can to set them up for success, and in turn, they will give us their best effort and attitude.”

Kelly, who holds a psychology degree from Hamilton and a master’s in exercise and sports science from Smith College, knows the deal. The NESCAC is one of the best small college conferences in the country, and the competition is fierce.

“I firmly believe that success is a byproduct of having great culture,” she said. “When a team loves each other, has fun every day, and has developed a toughness and ‘no-quit’ attitude, they are impossible to stop, and that is where we are headed.”

Kaillie Briscoe Kelly ’09

Head Coach, Women's Lacrosse
Full Bio

The lessons learned in 2008 also will play a role.

“We took a lot of pride in what we did,” she said, “and spent countless hours working at it away from practice — whether it was having hard conversations about culture, tough workouts in the gym with Coach [Paul] Adey, hours of wallball on the Dark Side, or getting together to play as much as humanly possible — we were relentlessly dedicated to getting better.”

Mackay Rippey P’12, an assistant on the 2008 staff, and Kalley Greer Friedman ’07, another former Hamilton All-American teammate and good friend from Ontario, are her assistants.

“One step at a time! Our first goal is to finish in the top four in the NESCAC and bring home a championship,” Kelly said. “Once we are able to do that, we will have the poise and experience needed to bring home the NCAA title.”