Elizabeth Tortorelli
Assistant Coach
Second Season
Penn State '05

Elizabeth Tortorelli begins her second year with the UConn women’s lacrosse team, serving as an assistant coach. She assists in all the day-to-day coaching and administrative aspects of the program, with an emphasis on goalkeeper training.

In 2007, freshman goalie Jenna Moulton started 15 games, tallying 130 saves and earning nine wins. Both accomplishments earn her a spot in the UConn record books in her young career. She is currently fifth for single-season saves and tied for third in season wins.

Tortorelli, a former All-American goalkeeper at Penn State, came to UConn after serving as the goalie coach at Haverford College in Pennsylvania. In addition, she has provided individual goalkeeping lessons to high school players throughout Delaware County (Pa.) and worked with Lenape Premier, a club lacrosse program, over the course of the last two years.

A 2005 graduate of Penn State with a bachelor’s degree in human development and family studies and a minor in sociology, Tortorelli starred on the lacrosse field for four years. She ended her tenure as a four-year starter and three-year captain, as well as the all-time leader in saves with 735.

As a senior, Tortorelli started all 17 games in goal, playing 992:02 minutes. She allowed 134 goals, recording 128 saves for a save percentage of .489 and a goals against average of 8.10. She led the team with 44 ground balls, also causing nine turnovers. The Nittany Lions posted a 12-5 record that season, their since 1999, and earned a spot in the NCAA Tournament.

The C. Markland Kelly Award capped off a junior campaign in 2004 that was marked with many successes. In addition to the award given to the collegiate goalie of the year, Tortorelli was also proclaimed a first team Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) All-American, as well as the American Lacrosse Conference (ALC) Goalkeeper of the Year. She led the conference in save percentage (55.6 percent) and ranked 12th in the country at the end of the regular season. As a junior, she finished the season ranked first on the team in ground balls (42) and caused turnovers with 20 in 17 games. She shattered her own single-season saves record, eclipsing the 2003 season mark of 199 in 17 games by saving 219 in 17 games this season.

For her career, she boasts 735 saves, as well as 171 ground balls and 53 caused turnovers. Tortorelli was named a second team IWLCA All-America selection in 2003 along with picking up first team All-Mid-Atlantic, second team All-ALC and Academic All-Big Ten and ALC honors as a sophomore.

Tortorelli is engaged to Robert Byers, a member of the United States Marine Corps. The couple is set to be married in July 2008.