Laura Sandbloom, who was on the Golden Bears’ 2004 and 2005 state title teams and coached Denver Colorado Academy to Class 5A championships each of the past two years, will be the team’s next coach, pending school board approval.

She succeeds Morgan Fee Maldovan, who resigned Dec. 21 after one season for personal reasons, according to UA athletics director Spencer Smith.

“(Sandbloom) is very connected to our program,” Smith said. “We wanted to be diligent in our hire, and we knew we were less than two months away from the start of lacrosse season (practices). There’s never a good time to not have someone leading the program.

“We’re excited about (Sandbloom) and what she’ll bring.”

Sandbloom was an assistant coach for five seasons at Colorado Academy — all of which ended in state championships — before taking over before the 2021 season. She went 31-1 as head coach.

The family moved back to central Ohio last summer to be closer to relatives.

Sandbloom, whose maiden name is Burke, was a four-year starter for UA and an All-American in 2005 and 2006 before starting for four years at Ohio State, from 2007-10. Her coach at OSU, Sue Stimmel, is a longtime assistant coach at UA.

UA went 22-1 a season ago, losing to New Albany 13-12 in overtime in the state final. The Bears came up just short of the program’s sixth championship in seven seasons and 11th overall.

Fee Maldovan was hired in July 2021 after one season at Columbus Academy. She helped lead New Albany to the Division II state championship in 2013 before playing at Ohio State and serving as an assistant coach at OSU as well as Kent State in that program’s first two seasons of 2018 and 2019.

Welcome to the home of the Upper Arlington High School Girls Lacrosse Team.

The Upper Arlington High School Girls Lacrosse Program began in 1983 under the sponsorship of UAHS faculty member and Coach Pete Corey. Tom Stout then led the Bears for five seasons. In 1992, Wendy Pinta took the helm of the UA Girls Lacrosse where she served as head coach for the next fifteen years, leading them to three state championship titles. In 2008, Lynda McCandlish, a UAHS and Northwestern University graduate, assumed the head coach position. In her first and only season as head coach of the Golden Bears, Coach McCandlish led the team to a state title. Coach McCandlish made Ohio history as the only person to ever have won the state championship as both a UA player (2002) and as a head coach (2008). From 2009-2011, Kim Rocheleau headed the Golden Bears, taking them to the state finals in each of her three years as head coach.

In 2012, the Golden Bears saw two of its former coaches return to lead the team. Head Coach Wendy Pinta (1991-2007) returned from a 4-year hiatus to coach youth lacrosse at Hastings Middle School and Associate Head Coach Sue Stimmel (1989-90) returned after a 23-year leave to coach collegiate lacrosse at Denison and The Ohio State University. In their first season as head coaches they returned the Bears to the state finals. In their second year (2013), they led the squad to their first state championship in five years. They again garnered championships in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019, setting a state-record with five consecutive state championships.

Since its inception, UA has had 26 athletes play all four years in college. UA also has eleven players currently playing for collegiate Division I, II, or III programs and many others playing club lacrosse. In 1993, Upper Arlington player Ashley Burkart was the first-ever UAHS girls lacrosse player to be named All-American. Since then, 26 other UAHS players have earned All-American distinctions, and many others have been honored with All-Ohio and All-League awards.