The founding coach of the Newberry College men's lacrosse program, Nick Cotter enters his eighth season leading the program.
Cotter holds a 67-48 with five consecutive winning seasons overall and in league play including four straight double-digit win campaigns heading into 2026.
During the last five years the Wolves have posted a 50-28 overall record (.641) including a 31-17 mark (.646) in South Atlantic Conference play.
In 2025 the Wolves 10-7 overall and 7-3 in the South Atlantic Conference finishing in fourth place and hosted a SAC Postseason Tournament game for a third consecutive season.
Highlights included 14-13 win at #5 Wingate, the program's first ever win over the Bulldogs.
Defenseman Jack Travasos and long-pole defender Brian Lake were named first team All-SAC with Lake being named the SAC Defensive Player of the Year.
Liam Vollans (attack) earned second team All-SAC recognition with Gage Vigar (attack), Scott Williams (midfield) and Ayden Snow (midfield) and Ben McMullen (goalkeeper) all earning third team recognition. Vollans (offensive) won the SAC Player of the Week while Lake was a two-time winner (defense).
Travassos, Hudson Chivers, Payton Tasse, and Kaleb Malyon were selected in the 2025 National Lacrosse League (NLL) Entry Draft.
Cotter led the Wolves to a school record 12 wins (12-4) in 2024 while compiling a 6-3 mark in SAC play to finish in fourth place. The team defeated Anderson 20-14 at home in the quarterfinals of the SAC Postseason Tournament to advance to the semifinals for a second consecutive season.
The team started the season on a school record six-game winning streak and before falling in the SAC semifinals had strung together a four game unbeaten run.
The most impressive win of the season was a 14-9 triumph over #6 ranked University of Indianapolis.
All four of the team's losses came to teams ranked in the top 10 in the nation.
Scott Reed was named the 2024 South Atlantic Conference Offensive Player of the Year and a third team All-America pick after leading the Wolves attack with 91 points on 69 goals and 22 assists.
Baker Westmoreland and Curtis Bukta were also named first team All-SAC at midfield. Westmoreland and Jack Travassos was a first team pick as a defenseman.
Long-pole midfielder Brock Strong was named to the second team all-conference while attacker Zach Thompson and goalkeeper Ryan Erler were named to the third team.
All six were also named All-South region.
Westmoreland, Travassos, Reed, Bukta, Erler and Strong earned All-America honors from USA Lacrosse Magazine with Westmoreland, Travassos, Reed, Bukta and Strong were selected to the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) announced its Division II All-American team.
Reed averaged a nation's best 4.31 goals per game and .625 shooting percentage while Westmoreland led Division 2 with 18 extra man goals.
Reed also finished second in points per game (5.8) and third in extra man goals (15) while Westmoreland finished fifth in shot percentage (.529).
The Wolves led the nation in man-up offense at .675 while finishing second in shot percentage (.385), fifth in goals (16.6), assists (10.5) and points per game (27.1), eighth in total points (435), assists (169) and scoring margin (+6.75).
The team also finished in the top 25 in a number of other statistical categories including 11th in winning percentage (.750) and turnovers per game (16.1), 16th in scoring defense (9.8 goals per game), 21st in ground balls per game (35.6) and saves (213), 24th in ground balls (571), and 25th in clearing percentage (.870).
James Osorio was sixth in extra man goals (11), Zach Thompson finished 12th in assists per game (2.27), Connor Bates finished 25th in face-off win percentage (.587), Ryan Erler finished 12th in save percentage (.555) and 25th in goals against average (11.02).
Reed, midfielder Baker Westmoreland, and long stick midfielder Brock Strong represented the Newberry College men's lacrosse program in the USILA Senior All-Star Game.
The Wolves finished the 2023 season with a program high 11 win season and a first SAC Tournament semifinal birth. The Wolves would win an NCAA Statistical Championship as the Wolves' man-up offense would be the best in the country with a .520 percentage when up a man on the offensive end with 39 extra man goals on 75 attempts. The Wolves would get their first-ever SAC Tournament win, scoring 14 second half points in a 20-9 win over Lincoln Memorial at Setzler Field.
In 2022 the Wolves posted a 10-7 record in the 2022 campaign with a 6-4 record in conference play, including a win 18th ranked Mount Olive (13-12) on the road.
Newberry finished the season on a three-game win streak to clinch the fifth seed in the SAC Tournament where they faced no. 16 Queens in the quarterfinal.
The men's lacrosse team earned their best conference record under Cotter in 2021. The Wolves went 7-5 overall and 6-4 in the South Atlantic Conference. Newberry played five ranked opponents in 2021 and defeated #15 Limestone 13-7 for their first win over a ranked opponent. Newberry closed the season out with three-straight wins with 20 or more goals. Cotter coached five all-conference award winners.
The Wolves went 3-3 in a 2020 season that was abruptly canceled as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. They had opened the season with an 11-9 home win over Chowan, adding wins over Emmanuel (19-8) and Davis & Elkins (24-6), which set a program record for goals.
Cotter led the Wolves to a historic 2019 spring season by reaching the quarterfinals in the South Atlantic Conference Tournament. The Wolves finished 10-6 (4-4 SAC), with an impressive 6-2 record on the road.
In his first season at the helm, Cotter led the Wolves to a 4-11 record, including a three-match home win streak that saw them top Alderson-Broaddus (11-7), Chowan (14-10) and Palm Beach Atlantic (9-4).
Cotter had a remarkable collegiate playing career as a three-time All-American at Dowling College that led the Golden Lions to their first-ever Division II national title game appearance in 2006. He has spent the last three seasons as an assistant coach at Saint Leo University in Florida, where he helped the 2016 Lions to a 9-5 overall record and a final ranking just outside the top 20 in the coaches’ poll.
Cotter has also made a collegiate coaching stop at Mercyhurst and served as a player/coach with the Charlotte Copperheads of the Professional Lacrosse League. His playing career came to an end following the 2015 season and included stints with three National Lacrosse League franchises as well as teams in two other leagues.
The Ontario native enjoyed his best professional seasons in the NLL, which is an indoor league that includes five American and four Canadian franchises. In a career spanning five NLL seasons, Cotter scored 48 goals and recorded 43 assists in 48 professional games. Cotter recorded his best season in 2010, scoring 20 goals and dishing out 14 assists in 13 games in helping the Boston Blazers advance to the NLL’s Eastern Division Semifinal.
Cotter spent three seasons learning under the tutelage of Brad Jorgensen, who is the only head coach in Saint Leo history and ushered the program into varsity competition prior to the 2006 campaign.
