Dani Licht will be the newest addition to the Owatonna Girls Lacrosse coaching staff this year. Licht is a former Owatonna graduate who picked up the sport after being recruited by the first coach here, Bill Bernard. The sport was explained to Licht as a mix of soccer, hockey and basketball. While she had her doubts, they were quickly dismissed after she was able to start practicing and picked things up quickly. Licht then went on to Winona State University where she received a bachelor’s degree in Recreation and Sports Management with a minor in Coaching. She also participated in lacrosse on a club team because, at the time, there were no sanctioned teams.

Licht has been around the game since she joined the sport in high school, so coaching was an obvious option to her when her playing career ended. When asked how she got into coaching, Licht said, “I have an extreme passion for the game of lacrosse, and as soon as I aged out of the high school and college programs, my next avenue to share my love of the game with others was through coaching.”

Her coaching experience includes Winona State University, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Owatonna (Assistant Varsity) and Lakeville North (Assistant Varsity). In 2018, Licht had the opportunity to assist in coaching the Lakeville North Girls Lacrosse team to the Minnesota State Lacrosse Tournament where they took 4th place. She also oversaw the North Central Women’s Lacrosse League, the governing body of all college lacrosse teams in North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, and half of Michigan. Captain Grace Randall shared her enthusiasm when asked about joining the coaching staff and said, “Dani has already been talking about how she wants to create a new culture for our program. Dani is going to do amazing things for Owatonna Girls Lacrosse.”

Licht, as most do, has high expectations for the defending conference champions and hopes to continue the team’s dominance throughout this season.