New London — Kristin Ventresca, who helped build the girls’ lacrosse program at Montville High School, was named head coach of the Mitchll College women’s lacrosse program on Tuesday.

“We are thrilled to welcome Kristin Ventresca as our next head coach for our women’s lacrosse program,” said athletic director Matt Finlayson, who announced the hiring. “Her passion for the sport, coaching experience and dedication to providing a first class-student athlete experience will all have a positive impact for our women’s lacrosse program. Kristin has proven the ability to build successful programs and recruit quality student-athletes which is exactly what this team needs as we enter the GNAC (Great Northeast Athletic Conference).”

Ventresca replaces Ashley Snow, who guided the Mariners to a 3-9 record in her lone season as head coach.

Ventresca spent the previous three seasons as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Eastern Connecticut State University, where she also managed team fundraising activities while developing and presenting in-depth opponent scouting reports as well as maintaining academic progress reports for ECSU’s student-athletes.

“The support I have felt within this community is amazing,” Ventresca said in a release. “I am excited to build the women’s lacrosse program here at Mitchell into a program that is competitive in the GNAC, while enhancing our student-athletes experience both academically and athletically.”

Prior to joining the coaching staff at ECSU, Ventresca was head coach at Montville from 2012-2010, guiding the program to a state tournament berth (Class S) for the first time in 2015 — the first of five consecutive state postseason bid. Montville also won Eastern Connecticut Conference divisional titles in 2016 and 2018.

Ventresca coached her daughter, Shay, at Montville and later at Eastern. Shay Ventresca is now a graduate student at UConn.