"I did not have a good experience with this coach. I have had hard strict coaches throughout my time in club and high school and was used to having to compete at a high level and have a strong work ethic to earn playing time. At Campbell I felt as if I did everything right and played well but because coach did not like me as a person she would play mind games with me. When I committed I thought she had a tough personality but I knew it was a D1 school and I believed if I continued to do the work and play well I would be successful. This is not the case with Dawn. She does not value work ethic and will choose her favorite players over the most skilled. I started as a Freshman and played very well and she still told me in my end of the year meeting that I was invisible. If I was playing well in the game or at practice she would get mad at the girl I was going against for not stopping me and she rarely gave a compliment that wasn't back-handed. Before one of our big conference games she told me she finds herself rooting against me sometimes. Comments like these were common and no one had any idea how to respond to that. After she started to play mind games with me and I lost my starting position, she asked me if I was happy that "said person" was starting over me. These are the questions she liked to ask because there is no correct answer. If I said I am happy for her as a good teammate she would be mad that I was not competitive enough and if I say I'm upset she would call me selfish and a bad teammate. She would hold grudges against people if they ever opened up to her or said they were upset about something whether it was about lacrosse, school, or life. If you had a family emergency she would show no empathy and be upset with you for having emotions about it. Her communication was very poor and she would deny saying things that the entire team heard her say while at team meetings, film sessions, and at practice. She would pull people aside for one on one meetings and say hurtful things. She told me the reason I wasn't playing was because my relationship with god wasn't good enough since I did not go to church every Sunday growing up. There were many comments made in front of the whole team making fun of people for their hair, their weight, their religious views, sexuality, etc. and she would target people continually until they got upset. I have coached lacrosse for many years and would never allow someone I have coached to go to Campbell until there is a coaching change. This school checked all boxes for me in terms of athletics and academics so it was incredibly frustrating to have one person ruin an experience for me. The bond between the team was very strong because we were all frustrated with the way we were treated by Dawn which is probably the only positive that came out of this. Many talented girls were targeted continually until they quit, transferred, or pushed through to graduate and be done with her. Many girls lost their love for the sport and graduated emotionally exhausted rather than thankful for their experience. She took little to no interest in our academics. She did not know what year people were graduating and would not know what our goals were in the future. I graduated without her knowing what I planned to do next even though I discussed it with the assistant coach in my first meeting as a Freshman. The players with difficult majors with long labs were treated poorly because we didn't have as much time to do individuals with the coaches outside of practice time. We could never voice our feelings if we were overwhelmed or needed academic help. One of the big turning points for me with coach was when there were about 10 girls that almost drowned in a rip tide in Florida the day before a tournament where we played Stetson, Florida, and Jacksonville. The team was not supervised and there were no lifeguards on that area of the beach. Coach let everyone go in the water after a recent hurricane which made the water very dangerous with large waves and riptides. Many players got dragged out trying to help one another out of the water and about 10 girls were saved by lifeguards after about 10-15 minutes of treading water. My parents were very upset when I gave them a call later that day and not one email or phone call was made to any of our parents from the Campbell staff. The next day was very difficult for many players that were physically exhausted after the day before. A young boy drowned at the same beach the day after our team had to get saved. In terms of lacrosse I was frustrated with Dawn's poor communication, poor decision-making, and lack of lacrosse IQ. We played High Point and were playing man down for 4 minutes without any cards being given. I was trying to tell the coaching staff from the sideline but they refused to let me speak to them during a game. One game I was benched for the entire second half after starting all season and coach wouldn't say one word to me during or after the game about why I was pulled out. The next day she told me I was fouling too much even though I did not have one foul or card in the entire game. She then told me that she will not watch film with me and that I am rude for trying to dispute her because she is the coach. Our captains were the only ones that had some say in the way we ran our team and many years the captains wouldn't stand up to her because she would hold it against them personally and impact their playing time. Dawn is a manipulative coach that lacks the maturity and empathy to coach women's lacrosse. She is not concerned about helping girls beyond lacrosse and she only cares about the wins and losses. She encourages "selfish" lacrosse and has a poor understanding for strategic play-calling and situational lacrosse. Many games were lost due to poor coaching decisions and the players couldn't go against her calls or they would be benched. The team culture was only made by the tight-knit group of girls on the team. The only positives I took out of being coached by Dawn were that I learned mental toughness and how to stand up for myself."

"Unfortunately, my experience with this program and this coach was not positive. From the beginning, I felt like this coach only really cared about looking good to other people than actually caring for her team. She gave me 4 days to make my decision to commit to that school. She also told me I would be a big impact to the program as a freshman. As a young 16 year old, I fell into her trap and said yes to her offer. She never once reached out to me for the next two years, I honestly even wondered if I still had a spot on the team. Truthfully, if you do not play during games, then you do not practice. Only starters practice and only the starters play because she barley subs. If you are not one of her favorites or starters, there is no push from her to the athletic training department to get you back on the field. She likes to ask weird questions and then make you feel dumb if you answer in a way that she was not expecting. Once asked me what I thought my best athletic achievement was and she told me my answer was wrong... like what??"

"Lacks ability to see other opinions and ways but her own which makes it difficult to succeed in a sport culture that is constantly growing and changing. Struggles to express/show emotion and motivation towards players causing playing to feel/find no purpose in themselves and where they stand on the field. "