Alecia Nicholas joins Binghamton women’s lacrosse staff

It’s not every day that a program boosts its coaching staff with a national champion. In the Binghamton University women’s lacrosse team’s case, a two-time national champ from Ithaca joins the ranks.

 On September 25, Bearcats head coach Stephanie Allen announced the hiring of Alecia Nicholas as an assistant coach. Nicholas won a pair of national titles at the University of North Carolina in 2022 and 2025. Nicholas knew immediately out of college that she wanted to get into coaching, and she felt the right opportunity opened up at just the right time.

“It was the perfect fit of being local but also meshing well with the staff,” Nicholas said. “Stephanie and [associate head coach] Shannon [Mackesey] are awesome people, and we’re all very collaborative, which was really what I was looking for as a young coach: some place where I could have some influence and have people who are enthusiastic about my ideas while also helping me learn and grow and refine my style and how to apply things and grow as a coach.”

It’s no surprise that Nicholas has dived into the coaching realm. Her stepfather Chuck Little has had several coaching stints in college and is currently an assistant coach for the Ithaca High School girls lacrosse team. Nicholas hopes to bring the same level of passion and enthusiasm to coaching as Little does on a daily basis.

“He’s a very charismatic human being,” Nicholas said. “He really puts his all into it and is really good at connecting players with his personality and kind of who he is. He’s not trying to be anybody else.”

Nicholas is back in New York after an outstanding career at one of the premier lacrosse programs in the country. Looking back at the two national champion teams, Nicholas pointed out what made those teams come out on top—besides the sheer amount of talent permeating throughout the roster.

“The defining factor is that every single person on the team felt like they were contributing to our success,” Nicholas said. “There are people who end up like being on the bench. That’s the reality of sports. But every single human being—whether you saw the field 100% of the games or if you barely got in—were vital and felt like they were very important to working towards our collective goal.”

Nicholas saw both sides of the coin throughout her time with the Tar Heels. During both national championship seasons, she was the backup goalie. But she started in goal during her sophomore and junior years, being named an All-American Honorable Mention in 2023.

Not only did Nicholas overcome the adversity of jumping in between starting and backup duties, she had an even greater obstacle to overcome entering her junior year. In the fall of 2023, she was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. After undergoing treatment, she started all 16 games the following spring and won ‘Best Comeback Story’ in USA Lacrosse’s ‘Best of Lacrosse 2024.’ Those trials and tribulations gave her invaluable life lessons.

“You just have to take the cards that you’re dealt and make the best out of them,” Nicholas said. “I think so much of it is just letting go of what you don’t have any control over. And that’s both with playing and with health stuff. I couldn’t tell my doctors, ‘No, I don’t have cancer,’ because that would be incorrect. So if I want to get back where I’m going, I need to do these steps, and I can do those steps. [It’s] just knowing what you have control of. And it’s very similar with playing. I’m not the one making a decision on who’s going on the field or not, so all I can do is show up every day and try my hardest, and what happens is what’s going to end up happening.”

Nicholas has only been at Binghamton for a couple weeks, but she’s liking what she’s seen so far from a squad that’s hungry to improve from a 5-10 campaign last year.

“They’re a great group,” Nicholas said. “They want to learn. They want to get better every day. All you can ask for a team is be competitive and then be curious. Learn lacrosse, get better at lacrosse. They try to tackle what they have in front of them, and they are really trying to absorb everything.”

Nicholas aims to help Binghamton reclaim the America East title (which they won two years ago with fellow Little Red alum Zoe Congdon). With a national championship pedigree, Nicholas will undoubtedly be a major boost for a Bearcats bounceback.

“I think so much of it is knowing that it happened, but also not letting it define you.” Nicholas said. “You can choose to let it be like, ‘Oh, we did this, and this is who we are.’ Or you can choose to be like, ‘Yes, this happened to us. But my character is stronger than that. We’re bouncing back. We’re proving these people wrong,’ and being strong in your own conviction. I think that’s what the girls are doing. They’re not wallowing in the past. They’re ready for this year.”