Over the past year, the LacrosseRecruits.com staff has been looking for a Director of Women's Lacrosse Operation. We wanted to find someone who loves the game of lacrosse, wants to help players reach the next level, has a proven track record of success and wants to help our company grow.

A friend of ours suggested that we talk with a classmate in her MBA program, Rachel Sanford, who played women's lacrosse at Duke. After a few meetings, we knew that we had our match.

We hired Rachel Sanford as Director of Women's Lacrosse Operations for LacrosseRecruits.com. She is in charge of developing LacrosseRecruits.com's brand in women's lacrosse, creating and executing marketing initiatives as well as managing on site promotions. Rachel earned a degree in Sociology and a certificate in Markets and Management from Duke University. At Duke, she was a member of the women’s lacrosse team who went to three consecutive final fours from 2005 to 2007. She was a three time IWLCA All-American, three time Atlantic Coast Conference All Star and was a captain her senior season. Currently, Rachel is pursuing her masters in business administration at the University of Denver. 

To contact Rachel to discuss how LacrosseRecruits.com will help streamline the recruiting process or to say hello, please email Rachel@LacrosseRecruits.com. She is very knowledgeable about the process and loves talking lax almost as much as Matt and I.

To learn more about Rachel, please read her answers to our hiring questionnaire below:

What do you love the most about lacrosse?

I love the sound of stick to stick contact when you chase somebody down and steal the ball from them and I love to way the net moves as you nail a shot into an upper corner and it falls into the back of the net.

Can you briefly describe your lacrosse recruiting process?  What aspects would you have changed?

I decided my sophomore year in high school that I wanted to play Division One lacrosse. That year I made the NE team for the National Tournament, went to a few camps and played club lacrosse for CTLF. I filled out questionnaires from a bunch of schools and received calls from many of the schools I was looking at on July 1st. A few weeks later I had home visits from two of the four schools I was still considering. I accepted to go on four official visits but went to Duke camp and fell in love with the school, the girls and the lacrosse program. I ended up committing to Duke mid August. Looking back it would have benefited me to look at more schools on a deeper level to learn other aspects besides lacrosse.

Being an active team member is very important at LacrosseRecruits.com. What is your most important team achievement?

My most important team achievement was going to the Final Four for the first time. We had just won the ACC Tournament and were confident and prepared going into the tournament. After a first round loss my freshman year we had a youthful and exciting approach to the post season where we knew nothing was guaranteed. Getting off the bus at the Annapolis Stadium for our first walk through was amazing, the months of effort we had put in had paid off to get us there and it was going to be a battle to leave with a title but I was there with my best friends and I wouldn’t have changed the journey except to have won.

Please explain your most trying team experience and how you handled it?

In April 2009, I helped open Denver Houston’s as a manager. It was a challenging experience to launch a restaurant especially one with a strong national reputation. We had to teach service from the ground up and execute meticulous standards while creating a clientele. I developed my tolerance and my coaching skills and noticed the benefits of positive attitudes and humor.

Please describe a major success off of the field that you are proud of?

Getting into the Daniels College of Business at Denver University. I decided that I wanted to get my MBA and I made it happen in a very short period of time and it was a decision I made by myself and for myself.

What is something that you are particularly good at? (It is ok, bragging is encouraged for this question)

I am very good at most physical challenges (think double dare) and love to try anything new.

Why did you pick LacrosseRecruits.com as a place where you want to work?

I chose to work at LacrosseRecruits.com because I was very impressed with Matt and Chris and what they are doing to transform recruiting for high school students.