The National Lacrosse Hall of Fame, a program of USA Lacrosse, announced the addition of eight new inductees as the members of the Class of 2024 on Thursday.
Former women’s lacrosse and field hockey coach Carol Cantele ’83, who retired after 30 years of coaching in 2022, is among those set for induction during a dinner ceremony at the Renaissance Baltimore Harborplace Hotel on Jan. 11, 2025. Tickets for the event will be available online (www.usalacrosse.com/hof) beginning Oct. 21.
Joining Cantele in the class are John Grant Jr., Kristen Kjellman Marshall, Brodie Merrill, Patti Klecha-Porter, Paul Rabil, Betsy Meng Ramsey and Vincent LoBello (posthumous).
The National Lacrosse Hall of Fame was established in 1957 to honor men and women who, by their deeds as players, coaches, officials, and/or contributors, and by the example of their lives, personify the great contribution of lacrosse to our way of life.
Just months after being enshrined in the Gettysburg College Hall of Athletic Honor in September, Cantele joins her second national Hall of Fame. The 2021 inductee of the Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association Hall of Fame, Cantele earns her spot in the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame as a truly great coach. She retired in 2022 following 34 years on the collegiate sidelines, including 30 seasons at Gettysburg, where she captured three Division III women’s national championships (2011, 2017, 2018). Cantele retired with a 451-134 career record, making her the second all-time winningest coach in Division III history. She led Gettysburg to 21 NCAA tournament appearances and eight national semifinal appearances during her tenure, in addition to 13 conference championships. Cantele was named national coach of the year four times (2006, 2011, 2017, 2018) and produced 69 All-America players and 117 all-region selections. She also served as head coach of the U.S. Developmental Team and served as an assistant coach with the 2013 U.S. National Team that won the world championship.
She holds the rare distinction of hoisting a national championship trophy as both a player and a coach. A two-sport athlete as an undergraduate at Gettysburg, she helped the Bullets win the school’s first national title in 1980. The field hockey team won the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) Division III Tournament – the precursor to the NCAA Championship. A dual-sport athlete, she also competed on the lacrosse team and led that program to its first national playoff appearance in 1981.
She returned to her alma mater in 1992 to take over the field hockey and lacrosse programs from her mentor, Lois Bowers. For 10 years, she led both programs before relinquishing the reins of field hockey in 2002, amassing 121 victories and five conference championships.
More than 450 lacrosse greats are honored in the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame, which is located alongside the National Lacrosse Museum at the USA Lacrosse Headquarters in Sparks, Maryland.
This story first appeared on the Gettysburg College website.