OUR TEAM
Amanda grew up in the Bay Area and played at Amador Valley High School and helped lead her team to winning the Northern California State Championship in 2008 and was named an Academic All-American in 2008.
Amanda went on to play center and attack at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo for 3 years, helping her team get to the National Championships each year. She was a three year All-League First Team attack player and was awarded the National Rookie of the Year award in 2009.
At Cal Poly Amanda majored in Kinesiology and minored in Sports Nutrition, with the goal of pursuing a career in personal training. Amanda now lives in Santa Cruz and has been working as a personal trainer for the past 8 years. She owns her own company, HappilyForeverFit, a women’s fitness and lifestyle program in the Bay Area.
Alyssa Dunlap
Founder
Vanderbilt University
Following her playing career at Vanderbilt Division I Women's lacrosse, Dunlap spent two years (2014-2016) as an active coach for the Stanford University women's lacrosse program where she worked primarily on the defensive end. During that time, Dunlap was also the Director of Treelax Lacrosse Club, an elite national level travel team, founded by Amy Bokker, Head Coach of Stanford Division I Women's Lacrosse since 2009.
Alyssa Dunlap was a four year starter at Vanderbilt University. She was captain both her junior and senior years. She received IWLCA All-West Region selection in 2014 and was named to the All-American Lacrosse Conference 1st team.
Alyssa was a two-time 1st team All-American and Under Armour All-American her senior year in high school.
She graduated from Vanderbilt University in 2014 with a degree in Corporate Leadership.
In her free time, Alyssa trains for ultra marathons. She has raced both the 50 Mile distance and 100k distance. Alyssa is currently the Girls Director for the Menlo Park Grizzlies and Head Varsity Girls coach for Archbishop Mitty.
Amy
Yu
Co-Founder
UC Davis
Amy has been coaching girls' lacrosse since 2012. She coached in the NCJLA at the U9-U14 level. Her daughter and son both started playing lacrosse in the NCJLA and continued on to play Varsity at Los Gatos High School and Bellarmine College Preparatory. Her oldest daughter attends the University of Utah as a ballet dancer and Parks Recreation and Tourism major.
Amy grew up in Mountain View, California and played varsity volleyball, basketball, softball and track at Sacred Heart Preparatory in Atherton. Amy’s lacrosse experience started at UC Davis where she played for the varsity team from 1990-1994. As the leading scorer as a midfield defensive wing, her team won the California State Championships, WWLL Western Regional Championships and went back east to win the USWLA National Division III Championship in 1994. She was president of the UC Davis Lacrosse club in 1993 and 1994 and worked to create the NCAA status with the University. She became the president of the NCWLA Club in the East Bay post graduation. Amy is currently the President of the San Jose Extreme Lacrosse and Vipers Lacrosse programs.
Shane Winter
Boys Director
Notre Dame Belmont
Shane was a standout D2 defenseman at NDNU, where he was a four-year starter and two-time captain. He has since coached for several prestigious teams in the Bay Area, including the Alameda Attack, Menlo Atherton Bears Girls Lacrosse team, and Palo Alto Vikings. Currently, he is the head coach at Valley Christian.
Shane's passion for the game is contagious, and he loves working with players of all skill levels to help them develop their skills, build teamwork, and cultivate a love for lacrosse. His coaching style emphasizes hard work, discipline, and team camaraderie, and his positive attitude and enthusiasm inspire players to reach their full potential.
As our Lacrosse Director, Shane will work closely with players to ensure they have the best possible experience on and off the field. With Shane's leadership and expertise, we are confident that our players will not only improve their lacrosse skills but also develop the character, values, and life skills necessary for success both on and off the field.
Gabby
Torres
Colorado College
Liz
Hogan
Syracuse University & USA National Team
A previous member of the U.S. Women's National Team, and current STX athlete and UWLX Boston Storm member Hogan brings five years of Division I coaching experience to the Verve team. She served as an assistant coach at Stanford, Virginia Tech and Colgate University.
Originally from Upstate New York, Hogan began coaching after an outstanding career at Syracuse where she went 52-23 as a four-year starter at goalkeeper. She is the all-time leader in saves (660) and ground balls (181) in program history. She was a four-time All-Big East First Team member, 2010 Big East Defender of the Year, First Team IWLCA All-American (2010), three-time First Team All-Northeast Region selection and three-time Big East regular season champion (2008, 2009, 2011).
Kara
Rahaim
Stanford
Career Accolades
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Pac-12 Champion (2021)
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Pac-12 Tournament champion (2021)
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Pac-12 All-Tournament Team (2021)
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Pac-12 Academic Honor Roll (2021)
As a Sophomore (2021) • Pac-12 Champions, Pac-12 Tournament Champions
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Pac-12 All-Tournament Team
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Pac-12 Academic Honor Roll
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Played in all 12 games, making seven starts
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Finished with a 7-1 record in goal
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11.55 goals against average was second in the Pac-12
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Seventh in the conference with 4.58 saves per game
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Career-high 13 saves in the Pac-12 Tournament final versus Colorado (May 8)
As a Freshman (2020)
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Played in one game
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Totaled one save and three goals allowed (.250 save percentage)
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Finished with 12.87 goals against average in 8:34 minutes and had two ground balls
Olivia
Carlino
Belmont Abbey
From Campbell, California. Olivia attended Archbishop Mitty High School (#3 Ranked Women’s Sports Program in the Nation). She played varsity field hockey and lacrosse earning seven varsity letters during tenure. Her time there she received two varsity field hockey all league awards (COVID affected) and three varsity all league lacrosse awards (COVID affected), Attacker of the Year 2018, NorCal National Team 2018, UnderAmour All American 2019, USA All American 2021.
Now attending Belmont Abbey College playing at the Division 2 level on a lacrosse scholarship. She has earned a starting spot both freshman and sophomore year. Freshman year receiving Player of the Week, 2x Freshman Player of the Month, Freshman Player of the Year for Conference Carolinas, third team All-Conference, totaling 64 points to end her freshman season. Sophomore year she received 2x Player of the Week, consistently ranked top in the nation for shots and points throughout her season and received 1st team All-Conference. She set school scoring and points records in a single playoff game. She had a total of 92 points to end her sophomore season.
Audrey
Koren
Oberlin College
Audrey is from Menlo Park, California, and is a senior lacrosse player at Oberlin College in Ohio. Audrey started playing lacrosse in the 4th grade. She played with the Menlo-Atherton Grizzlies, and later coached the Menlo-Atherton Grizzlies. In high school, Audrey was a four year varsity lacrosse team member at Menlo-Atherton High School. She was an All-League player and was awarded the U.S. Lacrosse Jackie Pitts Award her senior year. For club lacrosse Audrey played on the Verve Mint team.
At Oberlin, Audrey is double majoring Neuroscience and Hispanic Studies while also completing the pre-med course work. On the field, she is a starting attacker and top point contributor on the team. Audrey was appointed to be a part of her team’s leadership committee and has received league honor roll accolades her past two seasons.
Audrey has both played and coached in Israel and while studying abroad in Spain during the fall of her junior year, she coached the Madrid Lacrosse team.
Maddie
Holloway
George Mason University
Kyra
Pelton
Stanford & AU Pro
Kyra Pelton is currently a fifth year on the Women's Lacrosse team at Stanford. She is studying Sustainable Design Engineering with a Product Realization concentration. Kyra is originally from Redwood City, California. She started playing lacrosse in the fourth grade, and was on the first girls Firehawks lacrosse team! As a starting defender since her freshman year at Stanford, she hopes to bring her passion and knowledge of the game to Verve Lacrosse to inspire young female athletes.
Kaitlynn
Lazaro
Regis University
Katy
Gilbert
Stanford
Katy Gilbert arrived to Deerfield Academy in the fall of 2019 for a post-graduate year with the Big Green after a successful career and exceptional senior campaign at Lake Oswego High School in Lake Oswego, Oregon. Katy finished her senior year at Lake Oswego with 55 goals and 36 assists in 22 games on the lacrosse field, helping her team advance to the state championship game after winning the Tri-Rivers League Championship. She was named Tri-Rivers Player of the Year, All-American, academic All-American and received All-State first team honors. Furthermore, she was tabbed the Prep Girls Lacrosse Player of the Year presented by the Oregon Sports Awards. In the summer prior to her senior year, Katy shifted her focus from college basketball recruitment to lacrosse. Entering the lacrosse recruiting process late, Katy opted for another year of preparation at Deerfield.
Katy is currently a rising senior on the Stanford Women's Lacrosse team. At Stanford, she is pursuing a major in Psychology and a minor in Sociology.
