Cristina Lukas Position: Head Coach (4th Season) Alma Mater: SUNY New Paltz (1995)

(708) 524-6237
clukas@dom.edu

In three short seasons, Cristina Lukas has taken the Stars from a 30-loss team to a 30-win team that came within one game of the NCAA Division III Softball National Tournament in 2009. Last season, Lukas' Stars posted a 30-14 overall record, finishing the season as the Northern Athletics Conference (NAC) Tournament Runner-Up after claiming the program's first appearance in the NAC Softball Tournament with a fourth-place finish during the regular season.

Inheriting a team that went just 3-34 the season before her arrival, Lukas has posted a 54-59 record as the Stars' head coach, completely rewriting the program's record book each season. Under her direction, the Stars have set team single-season marks in wins, batting average, slugging percentage, on-base percentage, runs scored, runs batted in, total bases, doubles and home runs at the plate while drastically improving the team's fielding percentage from a program-low .873 in 2006 to a program-best .939 in 2009.

In addition to the program success, Lukas also coached the program's first NFCA All-Region softball athletes in Carolyn Rogers and Sarah Budz. The duo, recruited and coached by Lukas, wreaked havoc on opposing pitchers, combining for 16 home runs, 188 total bases and 96 runs batted in.

Lukas came to Dominican University with coaching experience at the club, high school and collegiate level. Most recently, Lukas served as an assistant coach at Ball State University. As a member of the Cardinals' coaching staff from 2004-2006, Lukas was largely responsible for the development of the pitching staff. In 2005, Lukas helped the staff to a 2.37 conference earned run average, the best by a Ball State pitching staff in four seasons. In her second season, one of Lukas' pitchers was named to the Mid-American Conference All-Conference Second Team, the first pitcher to receive an all-conference award since 2002.

Lukas has also made stops at the University of New Haven in Connecticut and Quinnipiac University. As the head coach at New Haven from 2000 to 2003, Lukas helped build a program that struggled through an eight-win season the year before to a team that eventually posted 26 wins in her final season with team. From 2000 to 2003, Lukas helped the Chargers' pitching staff lower the team ERA from 2.19 her first year to 1.19 in her final season. In her first season as pitching coach at Quinnipiac, three of her pitchers ranked among the top 4 in the conference in earned run average.

A 1995 graduate of SUNY New Paltz, Lukas led all Division III pitchers during her junior season with 232 strikeouts, averaging 7.7 strikeouts per game with 19 wins. Her efforts that season earned her all-region and all-state honors. She was named the SUNY New Paltz team MVP two times and named to the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) All-Conference Team during her junior and senior seasons. As a senior, Lukas received the Carol Eckman Award for Outstanding Female Athlete of the Year at SUNY New Paltz.

In addition to her responsibilities with the softball team, Lukas serves as the senior woman administrator for the Department of Athletics and is the coordinator of student-athlete services.