As announced by Director of Athletics
Al King on Wednesday (Oct. 7) afternoon,
Alex Bruder has been named the fourth head coach in Ashland University women's lacrosse history.
Bruder spent the last two seasons as an assistant coach for Heidelberg's men's lacrosse team. He also has experience as head coach of Resolute Lacrosse Club, and from 2022-24, as an assistant for Strongsville High School's boys and girls programs.
"Alex is taking a big step forward, said King. "The good news is he's excited to take the reins of this program and put his stamp on it. He's going to be directing a program that's enjoyed a great deal of success over the last two years. The good news is that Alex has some familiarity with several of our student-athletes. He knows this is a great opportunity and he's charged with trying to keep moving Ashland lacrosse forward.
"Alex brings energy and new ideas to Ashland. I think you'll see that in game preparation, in-game coaching and recruiting. I think you'll also see AU lacrosse become more visible on campus, in the community and in youth and camp programming, things that will help the program flourish."
Said Bruder, "I'm very excited. We have a very talented group here at Ashland, and I'm excited to lead them going forward. They've built a really high standard of winning here on this team and on this program, and I'm not looking to change that standard at all, just looking to raise it a little bit more.
"Working at Heidelberg was a really big blessing, because I had a lot of responsibilities over there that led me to be prepared for a head-coaching position," Bruder said. "I was really grateful for my mentor, Ryan Sinnema. He did a really good job of mentoring me, and gave me a lot of responsibilities as an assistant coach that kind of made me almost feel like a head coach there."
Bruder takes over for
Lauren Simko, who resigned in late August to become the head coach at John Carroll.
He was an attackman and goalkeeper for Heidelberg's men's lacrosse team for five seasons, and ranks as one of the top players in program history in career goals (78), career assists (30), career points (108) and career saves (217).
Ashland's women's lacrosse finished 2026 at 16-5 overall and 8-0 in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference – winning the conference regular-season and tournament championships for the second season in a row. The Eagles also qualified for the NCAA postseason for a second straight season, and won an NCAA playoff game for the first time in program history.
"Obviously, we want to go win the conference championship again," Bruder said. "We don't want to take any steps back. We want to continue stepping forward."
Prior to Bruder's arrival, first-year graduate assistant coach
Caroline Krauch was leading Eagle fall practices.
"She's been amazing," said Bruder. "Just the fact that she was here and coaching an entire team for about an entire month without a head coach, and doing that all on her own, I give her a lot of credit and gratitude for that.
"She's really helped me get into the swing of things a lot quicker."
