Point Park hired Cody Golon and Erik Ingram in June as the university’s first ever lacrosse coaches.

The two teams will not compete in official matches during the 2024-25 school year, however Golon and Ingram began recruiting and building their rosters. Lacrosse is set to begin NCAA play during the 2025-26 academic year.

The lacrosse teams will practice and compete at Highmark Stadium.

“We’ve got a beautiful facility right across the river,” vice president of athletics Scott Swain said. “I think both men’s and women’s lacrosse are set up for success in the years to come.”

Golon and Ingram shared that Highmark Stadium acts as a valuable recruiting tool and adds a unique aspect to the university’s lacrosse program.

“I think it’s probably the coolest venue in Division II lacrosse, or one of them,” men’s head coach Cody Golon said. “Practicing there, playing there, having a night game there – creating that environment is really important.”

Golon is a Pittsburgh native and graduate of Baldwin-Whitehall High School, a school about 20 minutes from the city. He played lacrosse and earned his Bachelor’s at Seton Hill University, an NCAA Division II school in Greensburg, Pennsylvania.

During his time at Seton Hill, Golon had three postseason qualifications – one for the NCAA Tournament and two for ECAC tournament.

Golon began his coaching career by volunteering for Baldwin-Whitehall’s team. On top of his day job, he got increasingly involved in high school and club lacrosse.

Years later, Golon earned his first full-time coaching position at his alma mater as a graduate assistant, taking on the role of assistant coach and offensive coordinator. He helped lead the Griffins to a GMAC regular season championship and an NCAA playoff spot.

Golon most recently served as women’s lacrosse head coach at Washington & Jefferson for three years. He is no stranger to Pittsburgh-area collegiate lacrosse, as he once coached at La Roche College as well.

“He has a great background in men’s lacrosse,” Swain said. “He is no rookie to it at all, and he’s been successful recruiting and a successful coach.”

Golon’s first year as head coach consists of recruiting and forming a complete team by next year.

“We’re having a lot of guys on campus for visits,” Golon said. “That’s gonna be a big part of it for this first year, just getting a solid roster together.”

Golon will pioneer the first men’s lacrosse team in Point Park history, one of four new athletic programs coming to the university.

“Anytime you take on a new challenge, it’s so different. It’s energizing,” Golon said. “In the athletic department as a whole, there’s a really good, positive energy going on.”

At the forefront of the women’s lacrosse team is Erik Ingram, a Pittsburgh native who attended Plum High School. Ingram has a diverse background of coaching several sports on the high school and collegiate level.

Ingram most recently coached women’s lacrosse at Geneva College in their first year of the program. Before that, he served as both a lacrosse and soccer coach at Fox Chapel High School.

Between 1997 and 2003, Ingram helped launch the University of Pittsburgh’s women’s soccer program. He began as assistant women’s soccer coach and eventually became a head coach.

“I think his recruiting ability was what we really saw in him,” Swain said.

Ingram said that he aims to bring in 14-16 recruits during this first year. He states that he has a couple of verbal commitments and hopes to make it official during National Signing Day in November.

“Based on our campus, the facility we use for home games, [and] the amount of resources that have been put into athletics, recruiting has not been a challenge at all,” Ingram said.

Ingram shared that he plans to recruit both internally and externally. He will target high school recruits in addition to finding interested students within the university.

Only two months into his tenure, Ingram is in the works of forming a complete roster.

“It’s been first class, and the resources that they give the coaches to be successful are pretty amazing,” Ingram said. “So I’ve enjoyed it quite a bit.”