Plattsburgh State Athletics

Julia Decker enters her third season as the head women's lacrosse coach at Plattsburgh State in 2021.

In just two years, the Cardinals went from a 2-15 record during their inaugural season of competition in 2019 to posting a 4-0 mark in 2020. While Plattsburgh State's 2020 season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Cardinals finished the year as the only remaining unbeaten team among the 10 State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) schools.

Decker was named the first head women's lacrosse coach in the history of Plattsburgh State in July 2017. She spent the 2017-18 academic year recruiting and building the foundation of the program before the Cardinals took the field in 2019 for their inaugural season of competition.
 
Before arriving at Plattsburgh State, Decker served as the head women's lacrosse coach at NCAA Division II Fort Lewis College for three seasons. Fort Lewis experienced success with Decker at the helm of the program, as the Skyhawks qualified for the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) Tournament in each of her three years there. She helped mentor 11 student-athletes to 19 All-RMAC honors, and she had one student-athlete selected to participate in the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) NCAA Division II North/South Senior All-Star Game in 2016. Decker was chosen to coach the South team during that All-Star Game in 2016, and she helped lead the South All-Stars to a 12-10 victory over the North All-Stars. Her teams at Fort Lewis achieved in the classroom, too, never earning below a 3.25 grade-point average.
 
Prior to her time at Fort Lewis, she served as an assistant coach at NCAA Division I Fresno State for two seasons, where she primarily coached the offense. In 2013, her offensive knowledge helped guide the Bulldogs to single-season team program records in points, goals, goals per game, assists, shots and shots on goal, and she coached an All-Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) midfielder. During Decker's final season at Fresno State in 2014, she helped the Bulldogs defeat St. Mary's (Calif.) College for the first time in program history, and she coached an All-MPSF attacker.
 
Decker helped build the foundation of the women's lacrosse program at Hilbert College as its first-ever head coach, establishing a working club team from Aug. 2011-July 2012 in advance of the Hawks' inaugural season in 2013.
 
Her first coaching job out of college came at SUNY Geneseo, where she worked as an assistant coach during the 2010 and 2011 seasons. She helped guide the Knights to a four-win improvement from 2010 to 2011, as Geneseo went 12-4 overall and qualified for the SUNYAC Tournament during her final season there.
 
Decker enjoyed a distinguished women's lacrosse career as a student-athlete at Brockport from 2006-09, earning All-SUNYAC honors in 2008 while helping the Golden Eagles advance to the SUNYAC Tournament championship game in both 2007 and 2008. As a result of her efforts in the SUNYAC Tournament in 2008, she was named to the All-Tournament Team.
 
During her tenure as a student-athlete at the Penn Yan Academy, she helped lead the Mustangs to the Class B New York State title in 2004. She led the team in points as a senior in 2004 and was named a Finger Lakes All-League attacker that season as well.
 
Decker graduated cum laude from Brockport in 2008 with a Bachelor of Science in physical education, and she earned her Master of Science in physical education-athletic administration from Brockport in 2012.