Harvard’s Wojcik ’96 Announces Hiring of Ben DeLuca as Associate Head Coach

Harvards-Wojcik-96-Announces-Hiring-of-Ben-DeLuca-as-Associate-Head-Coach

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.Chris Wojcik ’96, The Frisbie Family Head Coach for Harvard Men’s Lacrosse, has announced the hiring of Ben DeLuca as associate head coach.

“I am pleased to announce the hiring of Ben DeLuca to our staff at Harvard,” stated Wojcik. “Ben and I competed against each other in the Ivy League during our college playing careers, and I have always held him in high regard and respected him as a person and a coach. His coaching accomplishments at Cornell and Duke are outstanding, and he has been successful every step of his career. Ben is a family man and I am happy to welcome Ben, his wife Laurie, and their two daughters, Elizabeth and Anne, to Harvard.”

DeLuca comes to Cambridge after spending the previous two seasons as a defensive assistant under John Danowski at Duke, helping the Blue Devils to the 2014 national championship. DeLuca coached four defensive All-American’s in his first season in Durham as the Blue Devils ranked fourth in the NCAA in ground balls per game (35.05). Duke also ranked fourth in ground balls (37.00) this past season and earned a berth to the NCAA tournament, with short stick defensive midfielder Will Haus earning his second straight All-America honor.

No stranger to the Ivy League, DeLuca spent 18 years at Cornell as both a student-athlete and coach, including three seasons as head coach from 2011-13. The Big Red won a pair of Ivy titles with DeLuca at the helm, posting an overall record of 37-11 with a conference mark of 16-2. Cornell also made two appearances in the NCAA tournament, reaching the quarterfinals in 2011 and the national semifinals in 2013. 12 student-athletes earned All-America recognition under DeLuca’s tutelage, including Rob Pannell who graduated from Cornell as the NCAA’s career leader in points (354).

Prior to his time as head coach, DeLuca served 11 seasons as both an assistant and associate head coach. Cornell made nine NCAA tournament appearances with the Rochester, N.Y., native on staff, making two national semifinals appearances in 2007 and 2010, and earning a trip to the national championship game in 2009. DeLuca was named as the IMLCA Assistant Coach of the Year in 2007.

DeLuca was a four-year letterwinner on defense for the Big Red, and earned his Bachelor of Science degree in nutritional sciences and biochemistry in 1998. He was elected as a co-captain, for his senior campaign in 1998, and was voted as the team’s Outstanding Senior Athlete for his leadership and dedication on and off the field.

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