John Keysor
John Keysor

Bio


John Keysor is entering his third season as head coach of the Mitchell College women’s lacrosse team in 2015-16. 

Keysor made his collegiate head coaching debut with the Mariners in 2014. He previously spent time as an assistant coach and defensive coordinator at Dartmouth College.

Keysor is the first head women's lacrosse coach in the history of Mitchell College. The Mariners played their inaugural season as a club team in 2013 and were elevated to varsity status for 2014. In its first season of Division III play, Mitchell won a pair of games and produced the NCAA statistical champion in goals per game.

A native of Setauket, N.Y., Keysor graduated from perennial lacrosse powerhouse Ward Melville High School before moving on to Hofstra University, where he was a four-year starter for the men’s lacrosse team and tallied 124 career points. In his senior season he helped lead the Pride to a 17-2 record, a Colonial Athletic Association Championship, a #2 national ranking and a #3 seed in the NCAA Tournament. He also led all Division I midfielders in scoring that season and earned second team All-America honors.

After graduating from Hofstra in 2007 with a degree in business marketing, Keysor was selected 15th overall in the Major League Lacrosse draft by the Baltimore Bayhawks. He played two seasons in the MLL with the Bayhawks and the San Francisco Dragons. Following his professional career, Keysor spent time in the coaching ranks at both the high school and collegiate levels.

Keysor is also an ambassador for the HEADstrong Foundation, a non-profit organization founded in memory of Nick Colleluori, a friend and former Hofstra teammate, to support blood cancer research and treatment.

Keysor also serves as head coach of the men's lacrosse program at Mitchell.

 

 

 

 

 

Meet The Coach
Kristin Ventresca

Kristin Ventresca will enter her second season as the head coach of the Mitchell College women's lacrosse program in the spring of 2025. 

Ventresca, who made her collegiate head coaching debut for the Mariners, arrived in New London after spending the previous three seasons as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Eastern Connecticut State University in Willimantic, Connecticut. During her tenure with the Warriors, she coordinated and implemented offensive strategy and skills, organized and managed team fundraising activities, and identified and cultivated high level potential recruits through clinics, tournaments, the transfer portal, and correspondences. Ventresca’s roles also included developing and presenting in-depth scouting reports for all opponents, as well as maintaining academic progress reports for student-athletes.

Additionally, Ventresca has extensive experience at the high school level, having served as the head girl’s lacrosse coach at Montville High School in Montville, Connecticut, from 2012-2020. Under her guidance, the program made their first appearance in the CIAC Class S tournament in 2015, and went on to make it back to the state tournament in 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019. The team also took home a pair of Eastern Connecticut Conference division titles in 2016 and 2018.

A resident of Montville, Connecticut, Ventresca and her husband Jon have four children; Shay, a graduate student at the University of Connecticut, Sean, a junior at Eastern Connecticut State University, Jack, a freshman at American University, and Liam, a high school senior at the Pomfret School.

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