Sun Devil Lacrosse head coach Courtney Martinez Connor has announced that former Florida All-American standout Ashley Bruns has joined the program for the inaugural 2017-18 season as an assistant coach.
"We are incredibly excited to welcome Ashley Bruns to the Sun Devil Lacrosse program," said Connor. "She brings a high level of experience as both a former athlete and as a coach. Ashley was an integral part of building a lacrosse program from the ground up as an athlete and then again as an assistant coach. She exemplifies the type of student-athlete that we are looking for - passionate, committed, competitive and hardworking. We are thrilled to have her in the Sun Devil family and we know she will make an immediate impact by sharing her passion for the sport."
The owner of an illustrious four-year career at the University of Florida, Bruns is widely considered one of the best to don the orange and blue. Finishing as the program's all-time leader in assists (94), 2nd in points (283) and 3rd in goals (189) over the course of her career and played an integral role in a string of three-consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances for the Gators spanning from 2011-2013.
Twice garnering IWLCA All-South Region and All-ALC honors, Bruns also earned National Rookie of the Year and ALC Rookie of the Year in 2010.
"Being a part of building an inaugural program is an exciting challenge that I cannot wait to begin with two of the best coaches in the country," said Bruns. "I could not be more thankful to Coach Connor for giving me this opportunity. She has an outstanding reputation as a head coach and I am looking forward to learning from her and developing this team into one of the top programs in the nation."
Before joining the Sun Devil staff, Bruns spent three years coaching at the Division I level, starting her coaching career at campbell university for a year and just recently Longwood university for the past two years. While maintaining her duties at Longwood, Bruns also acted as the head coach of the Richmond, Virginia based Storm Elite Lacrosse Club. Working to cultivate future collegiate lacrosse players, Bruns aided her respective players both in development and through the recruiting the process.
Exemplifying excellence as a student-athlete both on and off the field, she collected SEC and ALC Academic Honor Roll honors in each of her four years at Florida, before earning her B.A. in history with a minor in communications in 2013. Highly involved in community-based endeavors, Bruns has participated as a member of a number of service related programs including Faces Food Pantry, Kids on the Run, and Goodwill Gators. A native of Ellicott City, Maryland, Bruns is the daughter of John and Linda Bruns, and has two brothers John and Michael, as well as a sister Jenn.
ABOUT SUN DEVIL AND NCAA LACROSSE
As announced in October of 2015, women's lacrosse along with women's triathlon, Sun Devil athletics' 24th and 25th respective sports, are scheduled to commence in the 2017-18 academic year. With Arizona State adopting a women's lacrosse team, the Pac-12 Conference will field six lacrosse teams – the minimum number of teams required for a conference championship. With women's soccer and lacrosse competing at alternate times of the year, Sun Devil Athletics has the luxury of utilizing the same field and facility for soccer in the fall and lacrosse in the spring. NCAA women's lacrosse is sponsored by over 100 Division I schools in the country and is one of the fastest growing NCAA sports as participation has almost doubled over the last decade.