Rider Laying Foundation Ahead of Spring Debut

It had been a while since Evan Mager hadn’t played in or coached a spring lacrosse game.

Mager was tapped to lead the Morristown (N.J.) girls’ team at age 22 after playing goalie and midfield at FDU-Florham. He later coached the women’s team at his alma matter, producing a 34-7 record. Mager was named IWLCA Boardwalk Region Coach of the Year (Division III) in 2021 after leading the program to its first undefeated regular season and a MAC tournament title.

But last fall, Mager accepted the position as Rider’s first women’s coach. The new job came with a catch: He’d spend the spring of 2023 building a program without games to coach.

“The weirdest thing was that you are an athlete, you are a coach, you have a competitive nature … and that was missing,” Mager said. “Over time, I’ve become a big believer that things are the way they were meant to be.”

Whether you believe in fate or not, the season without games revealed its silver lining on April 17 when Mager’s wife prematurely gave birth to their third daughter. His baby, who shares a birthday with Mom, had a heart issue and spent five months at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

“When you’re in true season and traveling in games — I don’t know how I would’ve done it,” Mager said. “The timing of it and the support I had from Rider to do my job and build this program while focusing on a very serious family moment, it’s insane to think it happened that way.”

Things have calmed down at home (as much as they can with three kids, at least, he quips). Everyone is happy and healthy. And Mager is five months out from coaching a real game.

The turnaround time is quicker than other new programs that have entered the Division I landscape from high-profile athletics departments. Pitt announced the addition of a women’s team in 2018 for the 2022 season. Clemson had a shorter timeline that was still longer than Rider’s — July 2021 for a February 2023 first draw. Florida State just announced the addition of lacrosse for the spring of 2026. 

Rider officially decided to add women’s lacrosse in August 2022, hired Mager last October and asked him if he could have the Broncs ready to compete in 17 months.

“I said it wasn’t possible but that I’d try,” Mager said.

Mager still looked at Pitt and Clemson as programs to emulate, admiring how the two competed quickly in the juggernaut that is the ACC. But let’s state the obvious: Rider isn’t Clemson or Pitt.

“What Clemson needs to do [in the ACC] and what we need to do [in the MAAC] is different in terms of competition immediately,” Mager said.

The programs are also distinct for this obvious reason: “The sizes are different,” Mager said. “The facilities are different. We’re different financially. We understood we probably weren’t going to be getting the big-name transfers they were getting.”

Rider couldn’t offer former blue-chip, five-star recruits at other top-dog Big Ten or ACC programs an endless stream of sneakers and jerseys. But he could offer players who were overlooked by schools (or not given any looks) something valuable: The chance to make an immediate impact.

“Players say to me, ‘I don’t want to sit for three years,’” Mager said. “Being a new program as you are figuring out new systems, your conference, and the schedule you have, there are open opportunities.”

The challenge of finding the diamonds in the rough offered an opportunity for the fledgling Rider program. While schools like Pitt and Clemson brought in fifth years with one season of eligibility left, necessitating an almost immediate rebuild, Mager focused on finding student-athletes who’d be around a while.  

“Fifth years are great,” Mager said. “They bring leadership and experience. They are one in, one out. I wanted to build a foundation quickly versus having to spend one.”

In the end, Rider will take the field this season with a 23-player roster featuring 21 transfers and two true freshmen. Only three transfers are fifth years, and many players haven’t played a minute of college ball.

Mager, the son of an educator, has embraced the chance to be a teaching coach. It’s long been his MO.

“My mom was a teacher,” Mager said. “It was embedded in me, ‘If you want to be a teacher, coach, and you can be both.’”

Mager is teaching more than offensive and defensive sets. He’s lending an ear, as teachers so often do.

“My team knows my door is always open, whether it’s people coming in to hang out and talk about life or on-field situations,” Mager said. “We preach all the time about how we’re only as good as our culture, and we’re building that foundation for a culture along with our staff.”

It was this philosophy that initially drew midfielder Katie Walsh to Mager while she was a high school student at Camden Catholic (N.J.). She played for him at FDU-Florham and came over with him to Rider with three years of eligibility left.

“He’s not all about lacrosse,” Walsh said. “He sees your personality and how that factors into everything. He puts you first.”

Mager didn’t completely write off fifth years. One, attacker and midfielder Emily Wesoky, came over from Wagner, where she played in 17 games and made nine starts. But before she stepped on the field for her true senior season, Wesoky chose to spend her fifth year at Rider. As an aspiring college coach, the opportunity to help create something piqued her interest.

“Right away, I saw Rider was starting a new program, and that really attracted me,” Wesoky said. “I wanted to come in and be a leader on a new team, come in and build a program as an experienced player.”

Wesoky says she doesn’t pay much attention to class or experience — her goal is to help every player feel welcome, even as she navigates the newness of it all, too. But some of her new teammates look up to her, and she’s tried to use her experience to help them adjust.

“I’ve had girls talk to me about what it’s like for a conference championship,” Wesoky said. “Some girls haven’t played in a game. I keep talking about how it’s lacrosse. We’re going to have fun. That helps a lot.”

But don’t get it twisted. The Broncs are looking to build a foundation for a program that wins. Mager says the other fifth years, midfielder and another FDU-Florham transfer Kylie Garcia and defender Gaby Melendez, who caused a team-high 15 turnovers at Central Connecticut, also bring veteran leadership to the young squad.

Selena Carrington, who appeared in four games on attack for Rutgers, is another player Mager thinks could have an immediate impact. And he thinks Walsh has the chops to turn heads at the Division I level, too — he always has.

“I’ve known her since she was in high school,” Mager said. “I was lucky and grateful to get her at a Division III program. I’ve always known she’s had a Division I capability, and I think she’s going to make a pretty big splash quickly.”

As a whole, he thinks the Broncs have what it takes to dig their cleats in and shake things up in the MAAC starting year one. That competitive spirit didn’t go anywhere during the one-season layoff.

“We know who the big guns in our conference are … but there are competitive games throughout it,” Mager said. “We want that winning season. We want to be competitive in our conference. Hopefully, we’re competitive right away and put some mix into what our conference looks like.”