South Lyon United's Radcliffe Approaching Milestone Win, Another History-Making Moment
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
May 7, 2026
Originally, Deanna Radcliffe got into coaching lacrosse simply because it was a nice summer job.
From that simple beginning, Radcliffe is now on the verge of making high school sports history within the state of Michigan.
No girls or boys lacrosse coach has reached 300 career victories since the sport became MHSAA-sponsored in 2005. But Radcliffe is oh-so-close. Following a win over Haslett on Wednesday, Radcliffe has 299 career victories.
The milestone 300th win likely will come Saturday when South Lyon United plays in a tournament at Saline.
In order to get their names etched in the record book, any high school coach in Michigan has had to reach at least 300 wins since the MHSAA brought the sport into its championship lineup. So Radcliffe is literally about to become the first and only coach in the MHSAA coaching records for lacrosse.
Radcliffe is in her 10th season coaching for South Lyon Unified and also coached at Hartland from 2013 to 2022. This is actually her second stint at South Lyon, where she spent seven years as head coach before taking the Hartland job.
“It just means I’ve been doing this for a long time,” Radcliffe said. “What it really represents to me is all the players, coaches and families I’ve had the opportunity to coach. I’ve been fortunate to coach in an area that was willing to embrace the sport. I have been able to catch some really great teams and athletes across all levels from youth to high school and even collegiately. That’s the part that means the most, those relationships and experiences. The wins are just a byproduct of that.”
Radcliffe got her start in lacrosse very young, saying she picked up the game at 3-4 years old while growing up in Pennsylvania. She was introduced to the game by her aunt.
“It just became part of my life early on,” she said.
Radcliffe eventually became good enough as a player to earn a college opportunity, ultimately being named the Atlantic 10 Offensive Player of the Year in 2003 while playing for Temple.
Radcliffe eventually started a career as a special education teacher and was a high school coach in Pennsylvania before moving to Michigan in 2006, where she has coached club, high school and even college lacrosse as she spent time as an assistant at Cleary University.
“I just enjoyed being around the game and the competitive environment, so I kept doing it,” Radcliffe said of what has kept her coaching. “Over time, it stopped being something I was just doing in the summers and became something I really valued and stayed connected to. It’s grown naturally from there, and I’ve been fortunate to continue coaching while also working in education.”
The most noteworthy win of her career came last June, when South Lyon Unified earned a 6-3 Division 1-clinching victory over Hartland to give Radcliffe her first MHSAA Finals championship as head coach in a matchup between the two programs she built up.
South Lyon Unified is 18-0 this season and has won 39 straight games going back to last spring's opener.
“She has so much knowledge of the sport and really cares for each and every one of us,” said South Lyon United senior captain Teagan Wesner. “Deanna has been one of the best coaches I have ever had, and I am extremely grateful to have had the opportunity to play for her. I am very happy for Deanna, and I am excited to be a part of the team who helped her reach 300 wins.”
When Radcliffe first arrived in Michigan, lacrosse was in its first years as a sanctioned sport by the MHSAA. Now, she has seen it grow by leaps and bounds.
“One of the most rewarding parts has been seeing the long-term impact,” she said. “Many of the players I once coached are now youth, high school or college coaches themselves. Some are officials, and some I’m even coaching against or alongside now. That’s been incredibly meaningful and really speaks to the strength of the community the sport has built.”
Keith Dunlap has served in Detroit-area sports media for more than two decades, including as a sportswriter at the Oakland Press from 2001-16 primarily covering high school sports but also college and professional teams. His bylines also have appeared in USA Today, the Washington Post, the Detroit Free Press, the Houston Chronicle and the Boston Globe. He served as the administrator for the Oakland Activities Association’s website from 2017-2020. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Deanna Radcliffe, here during the 2025 Division 1 Final, has reached 299 career coaching wins. (Middle) Radcliffe raises the championship trophy after last season’s clincher.
'Difference-Maker' Does for D1 Champ
June 6, 2015
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
ROCKFORD – Lacrosse often is not a goalie’s game – and especially not when the player defending the net must stop the speedy lime-sized ball flying at her multiple times from point-blank range.
But her teammates were correct Saturday in giving Rockford goalie Katie Elwell the game ball after the top-ranked Rams’ 10-9 win over Bloomfield Hills Marian in the MHSAA Division 1 Final.
After opening up a comfortable 8-1 lead during the first half, Rockford found the net only two more times during the final 33 minutes.
Elwell – who signed as part of the first recruiting class for the new program at Central Michigan University – stopped 11 shots total and allowed only two goals over the final 20 minutes to help the Rams secure their third straight MHSAA championship.
“I don’t credit myself. Everyone stepped up at one point to help us, and especially at the end. We couldn’t have done it without every single girl on that field,” Elwell said.
“It’s hard for me to focus sometimes (while also directing the defense), and I knew I just had to focus in the moment and focus on that ball so that I could make that stop to help my team.”
Rockford is 59-14-1 over its three championship seasons, its best single-season finish of the run this spring at 21-3. Its only losses this spring were twice to Division 2 champion East Grand Rapids and Arrowhead, the top-ranked team in Wisconsin.
The Rams had gotten a look at Marian already this season as well, defeating the second-ranked Mustangs 14-7 at the end of April.
But the Marian looked like two teams over the course of Saturday’s Final.
The Mustangs took a more aggressive attack to Rockford during the second-half run, which included multiple goals by senior Caroline Forester and sophomore Claire Kelly.
Marian turned up the pressure one last time during the final two minutes, but two key plays by freshman Brooklyn Neumen and a clutch save made the final score stand.
Neumen first caused a turnover on her team’s side of the field. Marian senior Olivia Hargrave-Thomas stole the ball at 1:24 to regain possession for her team. Elwell turned away what could’ve been the game-tying shot by Forester with only 55 seconds to play. With 36 seconds left, Neumen won a jumpball to the front right of the Rockford goal and sprinted downfield to run off most of the remaining time before her teammates took care of the rest.
“Katie, we talked to her about that before the game, and I was just talking to her about that now too: ‘Let’s be the difference-maker today,’” Rockford coach Mike Emery said. “We wanted her to be the difference-maker, and she definitely was.”
Junior Grace Gunneson and senior Alexandra Vandermolen both scored three goals for Rockford, and Vandermolen also had an assist. She scored the Rams’ final goal four minutes into the second half to give them a 10-7 edge.
Senior Hannah Lievois also was up to the championship task in net, making eight saves for Marian. The Mustangs were making their second appearance in an MHSAA Final and also finished runner-up in 2009. They finished this spring 21-4.
“Once you get down by six or seven goals, against a good team, it’s very hard to make it close. We made a game of it, right to the end,” Marian coach Jamie Francek said.
“I would love to play them again, if we could,” he added. “If it wasn’t for that little period of time in the first half where they got up on us, I think we were the better team most of the game.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Rockford goalie Katie Elwell works to deflect a shot during Saturday’s Division 1 Final. (Middle) Marian’s Caroline Forester splits defenders while bringing the ball upfield.