Lisa Miller, who built the Syracuse women's lacrosse program from scratch into a perennial NCAA tournament contender, returns for her second season with the Crimson in 2008-09.

Miller has made a tremendous impact on the team in just one season at the helm. The Crimson picked up nine wins in 2008, the most victories in six years. Harvard had its best start since 1992, going 7-1 through its first eight games. Jess Halpern '11 was named the Ivy League Rookie of the Year, while two other players earned All-Ivy League honors. The Crimson was second in the Ivy League and 33rd in the nation in goals per game with 11.81.

Miller, a Plymouth, Mass., native and the 2007 Big East Coach of the Year, led the Orange to six NCAA Championship appearances in 10 seasons. She is also head coach of the Canadian National Team, served previously as an assistant coach at Brown and Wheaton (Mass.) and was an All-America player at William & Mary, where she is a member of the school's athletics hall of fame.

After entering 2007 ranked 10th among active coaches with a .664 winning percentage, Miller improved on that mark and finished her Syracuse tenure with a 106-53 record (.667). The Orange's streak of 10 straight winning seasons, all under Miller, is tied for the fifth-longest in NCAA history. During her SU tenure, Miller's players have garnered 17 Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association All-America selections, 31 all-region picks and 32 All-Big East honors. She mentored the Big East Attack Player of the Year in 2004 and the conference's Midfield Player of the Year in 2001, the league's inaugural season.

Miller has served as the IWLCA academic chair since 2004. Her student-athletes have earned three selections to the College Sports Information Directors of America Academic-All-District teams and one Academic All-America honor. Her players have earned selection to the IWLCA Academic Honor Roll on 14 occasions, and the 2005 team was recognized as an IWLCA National Academic Squad.

Eight of Miller's players have gone on to become collegiate coaches, with three earning head-coaching positions.

Miller's final season at Syracuse was perhaps her finest. The Orange went 13-6 to set a school record for wins, defeated five ranked teams, shared the Big East regular-season title, won the inaugural Big East Championship and knocked off No. 8 seed Vanderbilt in the first round of the NCAA Championship before falling to eventual national champion Northwestern in the quarterfinals.

Miller led Syracuse to 12-win seasons in 2005 (12-5), 2000 (12-4) and 1999 (12-4). An 11-game winning streak in 2000 helped the team reach the NCAA Championship in just the program's third season of play. The 1999 squad won the ECAC Championship, as Miller was named IWLCA North Region Coach of the Year and one of three finalists for Division I National Coach of the Year. 

In 1998, Syracuse's first season of competition, Miller guided the team to a 9-4 record and the top scoring offense in the country at 15.08 goals per game. The team also led the nation in scoring margin, outscoring opponents by an average of 7.3 goals.

Miller was named the Canadian National Team head coach in January of 2007 after serving as an assistant coach for the Canadian team in 2000-01. She began a term as a member of the NCAA Women's Lacrosse Committee in September of 2007 and has previously served on the Tewaaraton Trophy Selection Committee (2004-06) and as chair of the All-America Committee (1995-98).

Prior to taking over at Syracuse, Miller got her first taste of the Ivy League as an assistant coach at Brown from 1994-96. Following her third and final season, in which she helped Brown go 15-4 and reach No. 15 in the national rankings, Miller left to start the Syracuse program.

Miller began her coaching career here in Massachusetts. She served first as an assistant coach, then as associate head coach at Wheaton from 1991-94 after getting her start as head coach of girls' lacrosse and field hockey at Thayer Academy in Braintree in 1988-89.

At William & Mary, Miller was captain of her team, the 1987 Outstanding Female Senior Athlete and an All-America selection. She graduated in 1987 with a bachelor's degree in economics. Entering the 2007 season, she still ranked fourth on the William & Mary all-time goals list with 118 and seventh on its career points list with 145

Miller was also a member of the U.S. National Team as a senior and completed her playing career as an alternate on the 1989 World Cup squad. In 2004, Miller became only the third women's lacrosse player to be inducted into the William & Mary Athletics Hall of Fame.