Valerie Lawrence enters her second season on the Duquesne women[apos]s soccer staff as a graduate assistant coach and brings an abundance of collegiate playing experience to the program.
Lawrence played three years at the University of Maryland before missing her senior season due to a career-ending knee injury. Prior to coming to Duquesne, Lawrence served as an undergraduate assist coach for the Terps in 2003.
In her three years of action with the Terps (1999-2001), Lawrence played in 55 games and earned 47 starts securing the defense and midfield. As a collegian, she recorded 11 career points with one goal and nine assists. Her lone score came against Florida State in the first round of the 2001 ACC tournament. She also tied a Maryland school record for assists in an NCAA Tournament game with a pair against Long Island in the 2001 opening round. As a player, she helped the Terps advance to the 1999 and 2001 NCAA tournament.
Lawrence was a high school star at Good Counsel in Wheaton, MD, where she was named the 1999 Washington Post Met Player of the Year. She was a three-time first team All-Met selection. She was also a first team all-county pick and named county Player of the Year by the Montgomery Journal and the Gazette Newspapers as a senior after scoring 43 goals and adding 18 assists. She led Good Counsel to the 1999 WCAC conference title and tallied 212 career points on 85 goals and 42 assists. Lawrence also set a single-season school record netting 45 goals as a senior.
Lawrence was of the member of the Maryland Olympic Development Program from 1992 to 1998 and helped lead her club team, MSC United, to the state championship game three years in a row.
She earned a Bachelor[apos]s degree in English from Maryland in December 2003 and is pursuing a master[apos]s degree at Duquesne.
