Interim Head Coach:
Julika Blankenship

Julika Blankenship was named Washington College's interim head women's soccer and women's lacrosse coach in July 2008. Blankenship, who has a strong background in both sports, is a familiar face in the Washington College Athletic Department, having served as an assistant women's lacrosse coach for each of the past three seasons.

A native of nearby Crumpton, Blankenship starred in both soccer and lacrosse in high school, spending two years at Queen Anne's County High School before transferring to neighboring Kent County High School. In soccer, Blankenship was a three-time All-North Bayside selection and led Kent County to two of the best soccer seasons in the school's history. Blankenship earned North-South Senior All-Star honors as a senior, leading the team in assists and finishing second on the team in goals while serving as a team captain. In lacrosse, Blankenship earned Mid-Shore Player of the Year honors as a junior and senior, recording at least 100 points in each of those two seasons. She was named her team's Most Valuable Player as a senior, leading Kent County to a Regional Championship.

Blankenship went on to have a standout collegiate lacrosse playing career at Gettysburg College, where she finished her career as the all-time leader in both points (309) and assists (160). As a senior captain in 2004, she led the Bullets to their third consecutive Centennial Conference Championship and a berth in the NCAA Division III Quarterfinals. She was named a first team All-American by the IWLCA/US Lacrosse, Inside Lacrosse, and Womenslacrosse.com and was selected as the Centennial Conference and ECAC Southern Player of the Year. Blankenship, who was also a second team Inside Lacrosse All-American as a junior, put up back-to-back 100-point seasons in her final two years with the Bullets, breaking the single-season school record for assists in each pf those seasons.

Blankenship graduated from Gettysburg with a B.A. in Spanish in 2004 and spent one year as an assistant women's lacrosse coach for Division I UC Davis before arriving at Washington College. While serving as an assistant coach at Washington, Blankenship earned a Master's Degree in Psychology. She will be completing her National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) Regional Advanced Coaching Certification in August 2008.

E-mail Coach Blankenship.

Assistant Coach:
Phil Schuman

After serving as a student assistant coach for two seasons, Phil Schuman returned to the Shorewomen as a volunteer assistant coach for the 2008 season before being elevated to a graduate assistant coach the following year. Schuman’s duties include working with the team’s goalkeepers.

Following his graduation from Washington College in May 2007, Schuman spent the following fall completing a student teaching internship at Chestertown Middle School. The following spring, he taught 10th-grade World History & Elective Public Service at Elkton (MD) High School, where he also served as the co-head coach of the varsity girls lacrosse team.

Schuman played two years as a goalie on the Washington men’s lacrosse team and was active with that team's Captains' Council and with the Character Counts program.

Schuman, who earned a B.A. in History from Washington College, is currently pursuing a master's degree at the school. He is a native of nearby Stevensville and was a standout goalie for the Kent Island High School team.

E-mail Coach Schuman.

Assistant Coach:
Lisa Valentine

A native of nearby Stevensville, Lisa Valentine was named as assistant coach for the Shorewomen in the summer of 2008. Valentine played Division I lacrosse at the University of Maryland for four years and earned a B.A. in Economics from the school in May 2006.

Beginning in January 2006, Valentine served as program director and youth lacrosse coach for the Shore Velocity Women's Lacrosse Club in Grasonville, MD. In that role, she was responsible for event planning and scheduling, accounting, directing recruiting, and other administrative duties. In August 2006, she also took on the role of field hockey and lacrosse coach at Kent Island High School.

Valentine also has a solid background in education, having worked as a teacher for the Huntington Learning Center and a paraeducator for the Queen Anne's County Board of Education.

While playing scholastic lacrosse, Valentine was an all-conference selection at Kent Island High School.

E-mail Coach Valentine.

Assistant Coach:
Julie Rice

A native of nearby Worton, Julie Rice joined the Shorewomen a for the 2006 season and served three years as a graduate assistant coach before taking on her current role as a volunteer assistant coach. Rice came to Washington from Franklin & Marshall, where she was the Diplomats' top defender and served as a team captain as a junior and senior.

During Rice's career at F&M, the Diplomats won two ECAC Championships - the 2003 ECAC Mid-Atlantic Championship and the 2005 ECAC Southern Championship. Rice helped lead the Diplomats to Centennial Conference Championship game appearances in 2003, 2004, and 2005. In her four years at Franklin & Marshall, the Diplomats posted a 46-24 overall record and a 29-7 mark in conference play.

Rice, who starred at Kent County High School, earned her undergraduate degree from Franklin & Marshall in 2005.

E-mail Coach Rice.