Melissa Gyllenborg became the Head Coach of the women’s Lacrosse program during the 2014-15 season, and just concluded her sixth season.
In 2018, McKendree made a return trip to the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) championship game as the four seed in the tournament, thanks to two fifty goal scorers in Dana DiPasquale (GLIAC Attacker of the Year) and Paige Salthouse. Six Bearcats earned All-GLIAC honors, including three on the First Team. They finished the season as the #23 ranked team in the Division II IWLCA national poll.
In only her third season with the program, Gyllenborg was named the GLIAC Coach of the Year as McKendree earned a share of the regular season conference title. The Bearcats earned their first national ranking in the IWLCA poll after securing the GLIAC Tournament Title in 2017, defeating Grand Valley State 12-8. McKendree had seven All-Conference and five All-Tournament honorees.
Gyllenborg joined the coaching staff after serving as head coach at NCAA Division I Siena College in 2013-14. In her only season at Siena, she had one All-Conference honoree, two players named to the league’s All-Rookie team, and set a new program record with nine players earning Academic All-Conference honors.
Prior to her one-year stint at Siena, she served as defensive coordinator and recruiting coordinator at NCAA Division I Colgate University for three seasons. In her time with the Raiders, she coached seven All-Conference players, the 2012 Colgate Female Athlete of the Year and Conference Midfielder of the Year and the 2011 Conference Defensive Player of the Year.
From 2008-2010, she was an assistant coach at Rochester Institute of Technology. She helped turn around a one-win program into a team that won 13 games in 2009, leading her to being named the Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) Division III National Outstanding Assistant Coach. Serving as defensive coordinator, her Tiger defense ranked ninth in Division III in goals-against average. She also helped develop the 2009 Conference Goalkeeper of the Year and an IWLCA Second Team honoree.
She played lacrosse at Syracuse University from 2004-07, starting in 35 of her 63 games played. She helped lead the Orange to two NCAA tournament appearances, including a berth in the quarterfinals in 2007.
She received her B.S. in Psychology from Syracruse University, before earning her M.S. in School Psychology from Roberts Wesleyan University.
Melissa and her husband, Scott, have three children.
