Coaches

Sam Quilter- Varsity Head Coach

Sam Coach Sam was born & raised in Ocean City, MD where she started playing on a team at age 4. She played varsity for four years in high school at Stephen Decatur and also began her coaching and refereeing career working with youth lacrosse when she was a freshman. Coach has played every position on the field (including goalie in 6th grade!) but specialized in college as a crease attacker.

Coach also played club lacrosse for Eastern Shore Lacrosse Club under the legendary PJ Kesmodel and went on to further her career at Salisbury University in Salisbury Maryland under the also legendary Jim Nestor. She played on the team for 2.5 years until a back injury cut her time with the team short. In that time the team won the CAC (Conference) Championship twice and went to the NCAA Tournament both years. During Coach Sam’s time at Salisbury, she studied towards her B.S. in Mathematics and an Educational Certification for Secondary Math Education as well as a Minor in Athletic Coaching - a program run by the Men’s Lacrosse Coach, Jim Berkman who is the Winningest Lacrosse Coach of All Time. During her senior year, Coach Sam coached the middle and high school teams at The Salisbury School as well as having coached and refereed club and youth lacrosse throughout her entire time at Salisbury.

While at Salisbury, Coach Sam was also an active member of Fellowship of Christian Athletes and went on to be Co-President of FCA and also was a four year Young Life leader at a local high school.

Upon graduating Salisbury in 2018, she left Maryland to follow the Lord’s call and ended up in Orange County. After a few months away from the game she had devoted her whole life to, she reached out to local schools to become an assistant or volunteer coach somewhere and ended up at Northwood High School for the 2019 season. She began coaching club lacrosse over the summer with SoCal Express and returned to Northwood as the Head Coach for the 2019-2020 school year. She remained in those capacities until she transitioned to Mater Dei in Fall 2021 and soon after became the Director of Girls Lacrosse at Pride LC.

Coach Sam also started at Concordia University Irvine as the Grad Assistant for the Women's Lacrosse Team in February 2021 and will wrap up her time at CUI early fall 2022. She will finish with a Masters in Organizational Leadership.

Coach Sam is excited and expectant for all to come in and through the Mater Dei Girls Lacrosse program and is fully devoted to using the “best sport in the world” to shape and develop strong women leaders who are equipped to take on the world - in lacrosse and beyond.

Katie Willis- Assistant Varsity Coach

Katie Coach Willis has been involved in the lacrosse community since she was four years old. Her grandfather, a lacrosse Hall of Fame honoree, and her father are credited with sparking her love of the game. A Baltimore, Maryland native, Coach Willis graduated from Notre Dame Preparatory School in 2014, where she also played volleyball and basketball. She also played club lacrosse for Diamonds Lacrosse Club for several years.

After graduating from NDP, Coach Willis continued her playing career at Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania, where she double majored in Psychology and Spanish. While at Gettysburg, she contributed to 2 Centennial Conference championships as an attacker. She was also a back-to-back NCAA Division III National Champion in 2017 (a Junior) and 2018 (a Senior). Coach was lucky enough to be voted captain her senior year, as well as earning multiple accolades, such as Academic All-American, Centennial Conference 2nd team, and Metro-Region All-American.

Once graduating college in 2018, Coach Willis invested more time in coaching both club and high school in California as well as back in Maryland. When she’s not playing on the field, Coach Willis is teaching 4th, 5th, and 6th grade Math and Science at St. Catherine’s Academy in Anaheim. Coach Willis is excited to continue coaching at Mater Dei, growing her relationships with players at all levels. She believes in the development of the well-rounded student-athlete. Coach strives to ensure the girls learn in a safe, fun, and competitive environment where they are free to make mistakes, learn, and develop as an individual as well as a player.

Ane Horton- Assistant Varsity Coach/Goalie Coach

Ane Coach Ane grew up in Long Beach, California, where she attended Los Alamitos High School, earning three CIF championships. Following high school, Coach Ane attended Colorado State University-Pueblo, where she earned a bachelor's Degree in Exercise Science with a minor in Coaching and where she also found her deep love and passion for paintball, becoming an avid member of the paintball community.

In her spare time, Coach Ane also took up lacrosse at CSUP, where she was a 3x Captain and earned a number of awards, including IWLCA All-Region Second Team, All-RMAC Second Team, and 2x All-RMAC Honorable Mention as a goalie. At the end of her playing career, she ended top 20 all-time in career saves in NCAA DII and was top 5 in the nation for saves per game.

Following her playing career, she began coaching at CSUP and then later at Frenzy Lacrosse Club, and she also currently serves as the Girl's Director at Crease Coach.

Emily Silva- JV Head Coach

Emily Coach Emily grew up in Irvine, California, where she attended Northwood High School. She played lacrosse all four years of high school, earning three varsity letters, and continued her playing career at Chapman University. During her high school career, she earned her team's MVP award and earned an All-CIF Southern Section award. She is now a sophomore at Chapman, studying communication and leadership. Emily has been coaching lacrosse for four years and also currently coaches for Frenzy Lacrosse Club.

Angie Welsh- Frosh Head Coach

Coach Angie is a California native growing up in Rancho Santa Margarita and attended Trabuco Hills High School. While at Trabuco Hills, Coach Angie earned three varsity letters and made Second Team All-League her junior year and First Team All-League her senior year. After high school, Coach Angie continued her career playing for the #1 ranked lacrosse team in NAIA, Keiser University in Palm Beach, Florida, making it to the NAIA semi-final round.

Following her freshman year, Coach Angie transferred to Chapman University in Orange, California, to continue her playing career while pursuing a bachelor's Degree in Sociology with a minor in Law & Liberal Arts. Coach Angie also represents the U20 Mexico National Lacrosse Team and will play in Hong Kong, China, in the upcoming season for the World Championship. She also extends her coaching experience to Frenzy Lacrosse Club as well.

Aaron Richardson- Speed & Agility Coach/Media Manager

Aaron Coach Rich grew up in Seattle, Washington, attending Edmonds-Woodway High School, where he played football and ran track. While running track, Coach Rich earned three varsity letters in football and four varsity letters in track, also earning five First Team All-Conference awards and two Second Team All-Conference Awards in track.

After high school, Coach Rich continued running track at Concordia University Irvine while also earning his Bachelor's Degree in Kinesiology with a minor in coaching. While at Concordia, Coach Rich qualified for the PacWest Championship in all four years of his career for both the 110m Hurdles and 400m Hurdles, and in his senior year, he earned First Team All-Region in the 60m hurdles. He also currently holds two school records at Concordia in the 110m Hurdle and the 60m Hurdles and is finishing his Master of Business Administration degree. Coach Rich is also the Offensive Coordinator for Mater Dei's Flag football team and serves as the Director of Flag Football Operations for OC Elite Football Club.

Isaiah Gueits- Assistant Director of Performance

Coach Gueits is a proud native of Rancho Cucamonga California where he attended Rancho Cucamonga high school. Coach played football at the high school and college levels and was fortunate enough to win 2 college conference championships at Chaffey college and the University of La Verne in the process. He graduated from the University of La Verne with a B.S in Kinesiology and an M.S in Leadership and Management. Coach began his strength and conditioning journey interning at the University of La Verne under the direction of Head strength and conditioning coach Matt Durant.

From there he became the graduate assistant for strength and conditioning and worked with many teams including Football, Track and Field, Swimming and Diving, Distance, Men’s and Women’s basketball, Baseball and Women’s Volleyball. After his tenure there coach made stops at Proactive sports performance where he worked with their 2020 NFL combine class. Following he worked at the University of Nevada Reno where he worked with Baseball, both Men’s and Women’s Tennis, Dive and Men’s basketball. Coach currently serves as an assistant Strength and Conditioning coach at Mater Dei high school where he directly works with seven varsity sports which include Girl’s lacrosse. Coach Gueits currently holds certifications from the NSCA and RKC.