ST. MARY'S CITY, Md. – St. Mary's College of Maryland Director of Athletics and Recreation Crystal Gibson announced Monday afternoon (Aug. 18) the hiring of Madison Heck as the Seahawks' next head women's lacrosse coach. Heck begins her duties as the program's 15th head coach on August 20.
 
"We are thrilled to welcome Madison Heck as the new head coach of our women's lacrosse program. Madison's energy, vision, and commitment to developing student-athletes on and off the field make her the perfect fit to guide St. Mary's College of Maryland lacrosse into its next chapter. We are excited to see the impact she will have on our program and our community," Gibson expressed.
 
Heck joins the SMCM athletics department following two seasons in the same role at NCAA Division III Virginia Wesleyan University (Virginia Beach, Va.) of the Old Dominion Athletic Conference.
 
Heck stated, "I'm incredibly honored to be named the head women's lacrosse coach at St. Mary's College of Maryland. I want to sincerely thank the search committee, Crystal Gibson, and the entire Seahawk community for this opportunity."
 
The Forked River, N.J., native made great strides in her brief time at Virginia Wesleyan. She led the Marlins to a 14-21 two-year record, which included a 3.5 game improvement as VWU went from 5-12 in Heck's first season to 9-9 in 2025.
 
Heck also recruited and developed the first Virginia Wesleyan women's lacrosse player to earn All-ODAC honors since 2019 as Reese Morgenthaler made Second Team All-ODAC in 2025.
 
She also honed her coaching skills at Barnegat High School in her home state of New Jersey and with the Legacy Lacrosse and 3-Point Lacrosse Clubs.
 
Heck inherits a St. Mary's College women's lacrosse program that has made four consecutive appearances in the NCAA Division III Women's Lacrosse Championship Tournament, advancing to the Second Round in 2022 and 2024. Additionally, the Seahawks have captured four straight United East Conference regular-season championship titles as well as four league tournament crowns, going 19-0 in conference action.
 
"It's a privilege to join a program with such a proud tradition and a solid foundation. I'm looking forward to working with this talented group of student-athletes and building something special together as we take the next steps forward," Heck added.
 
She looks to continue SMCM's excellence on the field, bringing a winning pedigree to campus forged as a five-year NCAA Division II scholarship athlete at Georgian Court University and East Stroudsburg University. Heck garnered a First Team All-Region selection and three First Team All-Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) awards at Georgian Court while the Lions captured the CACC Tournament Championship three times.
 
With East Stroudsburg, Heck picked up an NCAA Division II Women's Lacrosse Championship Tournament runner-up trophy and was named to the NCAA All-Tournament Team.

She graduated from Georgian Court in 2021 with a B.S. in Marketing before obtaining her M.S. in Management and Leadership/Organizational Behavior from East Stroudsburg in December 2022.
 
Facebook: StMarysAthletics | Instagram: @smcseahawks, @smcmwlax
Twitter: @smcseahawks, @SMCMWLAX | Hashtags: #GoSeahawks, #SeahawkPROUD