Babson College

Michelle Smith is in her 15th season as head coach of the Babson women's lacrosse program in 2025-26.

A three-time NEWMAC Coach of the Year, Smith and her assistants also earned the 2024 Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) Berkshire Regional Coaching Staff of the Year. She has helped the Beavers claim six conference regular season titles and five league tournament championships over her 14 years at the helm, including three of the past five and five of the last eight NEWMAC Tournament titles from 2017-25. After posting a program-record 17 wins in 2024 and a 15-win campaign in 2025, Smith has registered a .644 career winning percentage, including an .850 percentage against conference foes.

The Green and White went unbeaten in NEWMAC play and reached the conference tournament final in 2016 before advancing to the second round of the NCAA Tournament after winning back-to-back conference tournament crowns in 2017 and 2018. Smith guided Babson to an unbeaten conference record and a third regular season title in four years in 2019, and got the Beavers back to the NCAA Tournament thanks to another NEWMAC Tournament championship in 2021. After leading the Beavers to a 13-6 record in 2022, including an eight-game winning streak and a trip to the NEWMAC Tournament championship game, she guided the team to the championship in 2023 and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

The Beavers continued to thrive under Smith in 2024, posting unbeaten record (10-0) in conference play, capturing NEWMAC regular season and tournament titles before advancing to the NCAA Tournament regional semifinal and finishing with a sparkling 17-3 overall record. The Green and White repeated as regular season champions in 2025 with another 10-0 mark in conference play, and went on to finish runner-up in the NEWMAC Tournament and earn an at-large berth in the NCAA Tournament, where they advanced to the second round. 

In her first season at the helm in 2012, Smith guided the Beavers to a 13-3 record - which included a 12-game winning streak - as well as the number one seed in the NEWMAC Tournament and a trip to the league championship game. She then led her team to nine more wins and its second straight NEWMAC Finals appearance in 2013, followed by a third consecutive conference championship game in 2014.

Overall, Smith's teams have reached the NEWMAC Tournament final 12 times in 13 tries going back to 2012.

A graduate of Trinity College, where she received her Bachelor's degree in 2008 and her Master's degree in 2011, Smith began her coaching career with a one-year stint as an assistant for the women's lacrosse program at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. She returned to her alma mater in 2009, where she served as the assistant women's lacrosse and field hockey coach for two years.

Smith enjoyed a legendary playing career at Trinity, leading the Bantams' lacrosse team to NCAA Tournament appearances in each of her final two seasons, including a trip to the regional finals in 2007. She was a three-time All-NESCAC and All-Region honoree, and she was selected as a First Team All-American and the C. Kelly Markland Award winner for the Division III Goalie of the Year in 2007. She graduated as the program's all-time leader in saves and was named team captain in 2008.

In addition to collegiate coaching, Smith has been highly involved in a number of lacrosse camps and clubs throughout the northeast, including the Peak Performance Goalie Camp for the past six years and the Elite 180 Girls Camp for the last five.

Smith, whose brother Chris graduated from Babson as a member of the Class of 2011, also assists in the oversight of the College's athletic facilities.