Caroline Corzel is in her fifth season as an assistant coach at Cal and sixth season as a collegiate coach in 2025. In each of the last two seasons, the Golden Bears have equaled their most wins since 2019. Cal reached that five-win mark in 2024 than in 2023 and also equaled the pair of conference wins the squad won in 2023 in three fewer contests.
There have been many memorable accomplishments during Corzel's tenure with the Bears highlighted by three dramatic Pac-12 victories over Oregon. In 2023, Cal a 13-12 winner in Eugene in the first meeting of the season between the clubs to give the Bears their first Pac-12 road win since 2019 with goalkeeper Alicia Souliotis holding the Ducks scoreless while recording a pair of saves over the game's final 5:33. In the second meeting of the season in Berkeley, goalkeeper Riley Drullinger was the star of a 14-13 win with a career-high 18 saves and the final one coming on an Oregon free position shot with four seconds remaining. In the first meeting of 2024 in Eugene, the Bears trailed 7-5 before scoring the final three goals of the contest capped by Kennedy Mason's game-winner on an assist from Josie Lillquist with six seconds remaining.
Cal's 2014 Cal squad finished 5-10 overall and 2-5 in the Pac-12, remaining in contention for a spot in the six-team Pac-12 Tournament until falling in their season finale to regular-season Pac-12 champion and No. 19 Stanford. In addition to wins in its season-opener against Akron and an April 20 victory in its regular-season home finale against San Diego State, Wong's 2024 squad registered a three-game win streak March 10-16 (Winthrop, Butler, at Oregon) that was the program's longest since a four-gamer from Feb. 22 - March 8, 2019. During the three-game win streak, Cal allowed just 18 total goals and no more than eight in any of the three wins. The three straight games of eight or fewer opponent goals marked the first time the Bears had accomplished that feat since a three-game stretch from April 18-25, 2010. Defense was the signature ingredient of the 2024 team through much of the season with Cal gave up 10 or more goals only eight times in its first 11 contests before allowing 12 or more or in each of its final four. Still, Cal finished the regular season ranked fifth in the Pac-12 and tied for 47th nationally in scoring defense, allowing just 11.00 goals per game. Cal’s offense came on late in the season including a string of three straight games with double-digit goals at Arizona State and at home against UC Davis and San Diego State over three of its final four contests to mark the first time Cal had three straight games of double-digit goals since March 9-17, 2023 (Howard, American, Oregon).
In 2023, the Bears moved up one spot to the No. 5 seed at the Pac-12 Championship after picking up a pair of conference wins in 10 games while Cal finished 5-13 overall. Maya Lawliss and Amanda Morse were second-team All-Pac-12 selections. Kennedy Goss set Cal's single-season record for draw controls (83) in 2023 and in the process also became the school's all-time leader before finishing her career in 2024 fourth all-time in the Pac-12. The team shone academically as well as an IWLCA Academic Honor Squad with eight members on the IWLCA Division I Academic Honor Roll and 16 on the Pac-12's Spring Academic Honor Roll. Cal also notably hosted HBCU opponent Howard in a regular-season game and for the first time ever was the host school for the Pac-12 Tournament.
Goss and Liz Scott were second-team picks in 2022. Lizabanks Campagna was a first-team selection, while Nikki Zaccaro was a second-team choice in 2021.
The team has also shone academically throughout Corzel's tenure as an IWLCA Academic Honor Squad all three seasons with a total of 24 members on the IWLCA Division I Academic Honor Roll and 54 on the Pac-12's Spring Academic Honor Roll. In 2022, Zaccaro was also the Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year as well as selected to COSIDA Academic All-America and All-District teams, while Ella Annest was a Oscar and Theodore Geballe Award winner given annually to chosen Cal student-athletes for their combination of scholarship and athletic competition. The award comes with a $10,000 stipend for postgraduate studies. In addition, Cal notably hosted HBCU opponent Howard in a regular-season game and for the first time ever was the host school for the Pac-12 Championships in 2023.
Corzel broke into coaching as an assistant at Quinnipiac for one campaign in 2020 after a four-year playing career as a lacrosse student-athlete at Cal from 2016-19.
Corzel had a record-setting season as a team captain in her final campaign as a student-athlete in Berkeley in 2019, starting all 19 games and taking a single-season school record 127 shots while scoring 40 points (34 goals, 6 assists) to rank second on the squad. Corzel scored a career-high-tying five goals against Colorado, while adding four in wins over UC Davis and Arizona State. She also had five goals and a career-high seven points in a win over the Aggies as a 2017 sophomore. Corzel finished her career at Cal with 93 points on 80 goals and 13 assists over 56 games played and 31 starts. She took 271 career shots including 179 on goal with her average of 4.84 shots per game the most in school history.
Corzel was a prep standout at Merion Mercy Academy in Merion, Pa., where she is a member of the school's Blue and Gold Club Hall of Fame. Her honors included first-team All-American and a Catholic Academy League MVP selection as a 2015 senior, as well as four consecutive Montgomery County All-Main Line picks. She led her team to Catholic Academy League titles in 2015 as well as her 2013 sophomore campaign while adding a share of the conference crown as a 2014 junior.
Caroline Corzel Coaching History
Seasons: Team – Position
2020: Quinnipiac – Assistant Coach
2021: California – Assistant Coach
2022: California – Assistant Coach
2023: California – Assistant Coach
2024: California – Assistant Coach
2025: California – Assistant Coach
Caroline Corzel File
Birthdate: September 25, 1996
Hometown: Berwyn, Pa.
High School: Merion Mercy Academy
College: California, 2019, BA, American Studies
Family: Parents – Ken and Mary Jane; Sisters – Kacie, Emily and Margaret
Last Updated
April 28, 2024
