Jennifer Wong is in her fourth season as the Cal lacrosse head coach in 2026. In each of her first three seasons with the Golden Bears, Wong's team has posted a better record than the previous campaign and she has won the season-opener in each of her first three campaigns to become the first head coach at Cal to accomplish the feat.
Wong's most recent team in 2025 equaled Cal's most wins since 2019 and recorded a 6-1 non-conference mark to give the Bears an .833 winning percentage in non-league games that is the best in school history. Cal had scoring outbursts in five of their six wins with the Bears putting 14 or more shots into the net in each, including a season-high 20 in a win at Winthrop. Cal also was twice on the cusp of picking up a victory in Atlantic Coast Conference play with each of the team's first two league losses by a single goal at home in overtime to Louisville (10-9) and at Pitt (7-6).
Wong''s 2024 squad reached the five-win mark in two fewer games than her first squad in 2023 and also equaled the pair of conference victories the squad had in three fewer overall contests. The highlight of the 2024 came in a 8-7 victory over in Eugene when 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.
In 2023, Cal improved its win total by three games over the season before Wong's arrival, including two more dramatic victories over Oregon with the Bears 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, another goalkeeper was the star of a 14-13 win with Riley Drullinger recording a career-high 18 saves, including the final one on an Oregon free position shot with four seconds remaining. Wong's 2024 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 dropping their season finale to regular-season Pac-12 champion and No. 19 Stanford. In addition to the Oregon win, Cal had victories in its season-opener against Akron and on April 20 in its regular-season home finale against San Diego State, Wong's 2024 squad also 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 giving 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. Goalkeeper Callan Fritsch, a fifth-year senior transfer from Drexel, finished the season second in the Pac-12 and tied for 25th nation. 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 Wong's first season at the helm in 2023, Cal 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 the Bears finished 5-13 overall. Maya Lawliss and Amanda Morse were second-team All-Pac-12 selections to give Wong a career total of 57 all-conference picks. 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.
Wong was named Cal's head coach on Aug. 30, 2022, following a long and successful coaching tenure on the staff at Temple, where she spent 14 campaigns during two stints from 2008-09 and 2011-22, most recently for seven seasons as the Owls' associate head coach from 2016-22.
Wong started her time at Temple by spending two seasons as a graduate assistant from 2008-09 and was also the head coach at Immaculata University in 2010 before returning to Temple. She spent five campaigns (2011-15) as an Owls assistant coach before being promoted to associate head coach prior to the 2016 campaign.
Wong's tenure with the Owls had plenty of highlights, including a national ranking as high as No. 18 in 2022, as well as seven winning seasons over her last eight campaigns and 10 overall. In 2021, Temple finished 13-6 and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament after an opening-round win over UMass.
Temple won the 2008 Atlantic 10 regular-season title and reached the NCAA Tournament while the 2016 and 2017 teams had back-to-back 13-win campaigns. The Temple coaching staff was honored as the Big East's co-Coaching Staff of the Year in 2016 when the Owls reached the finals of the BIG EAST Tournament.
Wong coached 55 all-conference and 13 all-region players at Temple, including a pair of All-Americans in Whitney Richards (2008) and Courtney Taylor (2021).
Temple was also strong in the classroom throughout Wong's tenure. In each of her 14 seasons on the Temple coaching staff, the Owls were recognized as an IWLCA Academic Honor Squad. In the fall of 2015, the lacrosse team's 3.58 grade-point average was the highest of all 19 Temple program and at the conclusion of the 2015-16 school year had a cumulative GPA of 3.51 that was also best at the school. Among BIG EAST lacrosse teams, Temple was recognized during both the 2014-15 and 2015-16 academic years for having the league's highest GPA, and at Temple's annual Celebration of Champions to conclude the 2014-15 school year, the lacrosse team earned The Owl Trophy for having the highest GPA. The number of Owls to earn BIG EAST Academic Team honors was impressive each year with a record 30 achieving that status in 2015-16.
During her entire stay with the Owls, Wong worked with Temple head coach Bonnie Rosen, who is a U.S. Lacrosse, Philadelphia Sports, Eastern Pennsylvania, and Connecticut Lacrosse Hall of Famer.
Prior to Temple, Wong served for two seasons as an assistant coach at Rutgers in 2006 and 2007 with the latter team reaching as high as No. 14 in the IWLCA national rankings.
Throughout her coaching career, Wong has been active in the advancement of minority women's coaches and in 2022 was honored with the Black Women in Sport Foundation's Community Builder Award. She has also served in multiple positions with the IWLCA since 2005, including her most recent duties for four seasons (2019-22) on the All-American committee, as a speaker and mentor for IWLCA mentorship programs - including the IWLCA's Students of Color Leadership Academy and Future Leaders of the Game. She was also an IWLA Coaching Symposium panelist in 2022.
A native of Greenwood Village, Colo., Wong played collegiately as a goalkeeper at Connecticut (2001-05) and helped lead the 2005 squad to an ECAC championship and No. 15 national ranking. Wong received a bachelor's degree in business administration from UConn in 2005 before adding a master's of education in Sport and Recreation Administration from Temple in 2009. She is currently working on a doctorate in Higher Education at Temple.
Wong is the fifth head coach in Cal lacrosse history following Malko (1999-2007),Â
Theresa Sherry (2008-11),Â
Ginger Miles (2012-14) andÂ
Brooke Eubanks (2015-22).
Jennifer Wong File
Hometown:Â Greenwood Village, Colo.
College:Â UConn, 2005, Bachelor's In Business Administration
All-Time Head Coaching Record (3rd Season):Â 21-44Â (5-11, 2010; 5-13, 2023; 5-10, 2024; 6-10, 2025)
Head Coaching Record at Cal (4th Season): 16-33Â (5-13, 2023; 5-10, 2024; 6-10, 2025)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
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Coaching Experience
*Season: School –Â
Position (Champions, Postseason)
2006: Rutgers – Assistant Coach
2007: Rutgers – Assistant Coach
2008: Temple – Graduate Assistant (Atlantic 10 Regular-Season Champions, NCAA Tournament First Round)
2009: Temple – Graduate Assistant
2010: Immaculata – Head Coach
2011: Temple – Assistant Coach
2012: Temple – Assistant Coach
2013: Temple – Assistant Coach
2014: Temple – Assistant Coach
2015: Temple – Assistant Coach
2016: Temple – Associate Head Coach
2017: Temple – Associate Head Coach
2018: Temple – Associate Head Coach
2019: Temple – Associate Head Coach
2020: Temple – Associate Head Coach
2021: Temple – Associate Head Coach (NCAA Tournament Second Round)
2022: Temple – Associate Head Coach
2023: California – Head Coach
2024: California – Head Coach
2025: California – Head Coach
2026: California – Head Coach
Last Updated
February 2, 2026
April 28, 2024
