Megan Sengelmann named Upper Arlington girls lacrosse coach, succeeding Laura Sandbloom

Even having won two Division I girls lacrosse state championships as a player at Upper Arlington, Megan Sengelmann acknowledged learning more about the game than she expected as a coach.

“I’ve been fortunate the past three years to be part of the varsity staff and learn how it works,” Sengelmann said. “I started coaching when I was 22, so it’s been cool to mature with the program and with the girls. … It’s been fun to flip the script (from UA player to coach) and learn the game from a whole different perspective. And it’s been very rewarding.”

Now Sengelmann will apply those lessons to her first head-coaching job, having been announced Thursday as the perennial power Golden Bears’ next coach, pending school board approval.

Sengelmann did not expect to join the coaching ranks upon returning to central Ohio after college, but a call from her former coach, Wendy Pinta , during the early days of the COVID pandemic changed the course.

“She said I’d be a great coach and I figured (junior varsity) isn’t such a big time commitment … and you just fall in love with coaching,” Sengelmann said. “It’s so special to give back to this program and be around girls where you were in their shoes.”

Sengelmann succeeds Laura Sandbloom , a 2006 graduate of UA who went 42-6 in two seasons and, in 2023, led the Bears to their 11th state championship .

UA lost 6-5 to OCC-Central rival Olentangy Liberty in this past season’s state final .

Sengelmann was on UA’s 2013 and 2015 state title teams and then played four seasons at the University of Tampa. Tampa won its first conference championship and was ranked as high as fifth nationally in Division II in Sengelmann’s four seasons.

The program won its first national title last spring.

Sengelmann coached junior varsity in 2021 before moving up to varsity in 2022.

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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Megan Sengelmann named Upper Arlington girls lacrosse coach, succeeding Laura Sandbloom