Stonehill named Lee-J Mirasolo the second women’s hockey head coach in the youth program’s history.
Mirasulo replaces Tara Watchhorn, who was named head coach at Boston University earlier this offseason.
“We are excited to welcome Lee-J Mirasolo to Stonehill as the head coach of the women’s ice hockey program,” Dean O’Keeffe, assistant vice president and director of athletics, said in a statement. “Lee-J’s name quickly rose to the top of our search with her experience coaching and playing at the highest levels of women’s college hockey in the Northeast. She brings great energy and passion to the sport and will be a tremendous leader and mentor to our young student-athletes as the program continues to grow and build its culture for success within And off the ice.”
Mirasulo, the 2021 AHCA Assistant Coach of the Year, brings 13 years of coaching experience in women’s college hockey to Stonehill, the last 12 years at the NCAA Division I level. She most recently served eight years as an assistant head coach at Harvard University, where she helped the Crimson rebuild from a five-win team in 2016-17 to host and win the ECAC Quarterfinals in just three years, before sweeping the Beanpot, Ivy League, and ECAC regular-season championships in 2021-22 with an overall record of 22-10-1, including 16-5-1 in the ECAC on their way to an NCAA Tournament bid.
Overall at Harvard, she helped a program win 94 games over her seven seasons, with six ECAC tournament appearances.
“I am thrilled to join the Stonehill women’s ice hockey program and the broader campus community,” Mirasullo said. “Everything I understood Stonehill to be from a distance – supportive, welcoming and connected – proved to be just as it was up close and personal.
“Student-athletes have clearly gone to great lengths to hit the ground running as a program, and I am so fortunate to be joining them and serving them in this endeavor. I am grateful to Dean O’Keefe, Cindy McDonald, Pauline Dubrovsky, and the entire search committee for believing in me and the program’s vision. I certainly didn’t get to Stonehill is on my own, because so many coaches, players, family and friends have taught and supported me throughout this journey. I am humbled by this opportunity and look forward to the road ahead.”
Prior to working at Harvard, Mirasulo served four years as an assistant coach at Princeton University, helping rebuild the Tigers to the national stage by implementing a recruiting plan that spanned North America. She helped Princeton win 52 games over four seasons, with three ECAC tournament appearances, including a win in her last two years and a 13-8-1 ECAC mark in 2014-15.
Mirasulo began her collegiate coaching at UMass Boston for the 2010-11 season, where the Beacons posted a 14-11-1 record overall, including 9-8-1 in the ECAC East, and reached the conference semifinals.
In addition to her assistant coaching stint with the USA Hockey Development Team from 2020 to 2022, she coached with the USA Hockey Development Camps at U-18 Select, U-15, and U-14 Camps for nine years. Mirasulo started her coaching career at Phillips Andover Academy as an assistant coach for the 2009-10 season.
Mirasulo is a 2008 graduate of Boston College, where she was a four-year member of the Eagles women’s hockey program, and served as senior captain. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications and was voted Team Unsung Champion for the 2007-08 season and earned Hockey East All-Academic Team honors. Mirasulo helped lead BC to consecutive 20-win campaigns during her sophomore and junior seasons, a pair of Beanpot Championships, and spots to the 2006 Hockey East Tournament and 2007 Women’s Frozen Four in Lake Placid.