Princeton University

Princeton University
Women's Softball, Jadwin Gym Princeton, NJ 08544

Division 1 New Jersey Northeast

Private Medium National competitor

I'm interested in this program!

Coaches

Email coach

Lisa Van Ackeren

Lisa (Sweeney) Van Ackeren, a four-time Patriot League Pitcher of the Year at Lehigh and a New Jersey native, is a five-time Ivy League Coach of the Year and is in her 13th year as Princeton's head softball coach in 2025.

Through 12 competitive seasons, Van Ackeren has a record of 225-234-2 and is the second-winningest coach in program history.

In her first season of 2013, Van Ackeren became the winningest first-year coach in Princeton softball history, finishing at 27-19 and with the best record since the Tigers went 34-19 in 2006.

Van Ackeren's fourth season saw her win the 2016 Ivy League Coach of the Year award after leading Princeton to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2008. Along the way, Princeton won the Ivy South for the first time since 2008 and became the first visiting team since the Ivy League Championship Series began in 2007 to win the best-of-three battle between the division winners, defeating Harvard two games to one.

The 2017 season included Van Ackeren's second straight Ivy League Coach of the Year honor as Princeton earned seven All-Ivy League honors, the program's most since 2008, and won both the Ivy South division and the Ivy League Championship Series, sweeping Harvard at the Class of 1895 Field.

Princeton returned to the top of the Ivy League in 2022, winning 17 Ivy games for its most since 2008 and 27 games overall for its most since Van Ackeren's first season of 2013. Eight players earned All-Ivy League honors, with six on the first team and two on the second team, as Princeton players won the Ivy Pitcher and Rookie of the Year honors and Van Ackeren was the Ivy Coach of the Year for the third time.

Princeton won the right to host the Ivy League Tournament in the first year of its current incarnation in 2023, coming a win away from returning to the NCAA tournament and, even so, finishing with 29 wins for the program's most since 2006. Van Ackeren made it three Ivy League Coach of the Year honors in a row in 2024, winning 30 games for the first time in her tenure and leading Princeton to its first Ivy League Tournament title and its first NCAA tournament win since 2005, defeating Ole Miss at the Lafayette Regional.

Fifty-three Tigers have earned athletic All-Ivy League honors during Van Ackeren's time leading the team, and Princetonians have earned a combined six Ivy major awards, with one Player of the Year, three Pitchers of the Year, and two Rookies of the Year.

Van Ackeren, a 2009 Lehigh graduate, coached as a volunteer assistant at Lehigh in 2010 and was an assistant coach at Penn in 2011 and 2012.

When she finished her playing career at Lehigh, the former Lisa Sweeney's name was listed more than a hundred times throughout the Patriot League record book, from being the only player in Patriot League history to win four Pitcher of the Year awards - as well as the 2008 Player of the Year award - to being a third-team CoSIDA Academic All-America honoree in 2008. No one in Patriot League history had won (104), shut out (31), pitched in (141), started (112), or finished (91) more games. She completed her career with the Patriot League record for strikeouts in a career (928) as well as the top three single-season totals.

Three of her four seasons playing at Lehigh represented the top three single-season win totals in Patriot League history, and she also twice led the league in saves in a season. Her four no-hitters, including ones thrown against Harvard and Penn, both in 2007, were a Patriot League record. Among those is a perfect game, thrown against Army as a freshman in the 2006 Patriot League Tournament.

Van Ackeren had a record of 94-28 as a pitcher at Lehigh, while the Mountain Hawks won 155 games over her four seasons. She pitched in three NCAA regionals, and Lehigh won at least one game in each, twice winning two. She was inducted into the Lehigh Athletics Hall of Fame in 2019.

In the 2012 season, her second as an assistant coach at Penn, Van Ackeren worked with unanimous first-team All-Ivy League selection Alexis Borden as the Quakers won the Ivy South division. Since coming to Princeton, Van Ackeren's players have earned eight All-Ivy League honors over her two seasons.

Van Ackeren has provided softball instruction outside of college athletics as well, co-founding Sweeney Softball in her home area of Lumberton, N.J., where she helped develop the careers of young players in her area.

Prior to Lehigh, Van Ackeren pitched for Rancocas Valley Regional High School, where she threw a no-hitter in the 2005 NJSIAA Group IV championship game to cap a 31-2 senior season in which she posted a 0.15 ERA. She was a two-time Courier-Post South Jersey Player of the Year.

While pursuing her bachelor's degree in history at Lehigh, Van Ackeren student taught at schools both near Lehigh and in her home area. She completed a master's degree at Lehigh in secondary social studies education in 2010.

Van Ackeren resides in Hopewell Township with her husband Brendan, daughter Jordyn and son Jace.

Email coach

Megan Murray

Megan Murray was named an assistant softball coach at Princeton in July 2018. Her duties include assisting with hitting, outfield, infield, recruiting and camps.

A 2018 Cornell graduate from the university's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Murray was a three-time All-Ivy League outfielder, earning first-team honors as a freshman in 2015 and as a senior in 2018 with second-team recognition in 2017.

Murray was a co-captain as a senior and hit .409 for the season, good for fourth in the Ivy and 48th in Division I. Murray was also 12th nationally in doubles per game and fourth-toughest to strike out, with one strikeout in every 45.7 at-bats.

Murray finished her Cornell career ranked fourth in program history in doubles, with 44, seventh in career batting average, at .352, and eighth in hits, with 179.

Murray is a native of Alfred, N.Y.

Email coach

Alyssa Davis

Alyssa Davis joined the Princeton softball staff in September 2019 after spending the past three years as an assistant coach at the University of Chicago and three years prior to that at Southern Vermont.

"We are excited to have Alyssa Davis join our coaching staff for the 2019-20 season," Princeton head coach Lisa Van Ackeren said upon Davis's hiring. "Alyssa has had formative experiences as a multi-sport student-athlete and as a coach at her alma mater and at the University of Chicago that give her a unique perspective to add to our team. In the interview process, she was thoughtful, relationship-driven, and has a team-first mentality that speaks to our program's culture. She will jump right into things this fall with team workouts, recruiting, and all things Princeton Softball."

Davis played both softball and basketball at Southern Vermont, graduating as the school's all-time leader in on-base percentage, hits, runs, stolen bases, home runs and RBI, earning two first-team all-conference honors. She was the basketball team's third-leading player in program history with 148 career assists and second with 138 career 3-pointers.

She came to Princeton after three years as an assistant at Chicago, a run that included a bid to the 2017 NCAA Division III tournament.

"I am grateful for this opportunity to be part of the Princeton Tiger family, part of a university and athletic department whose values closely align with my own," Davis said upon her hiring. "I would like to thank Coach Van Ackeren and the athletic department for this incredible opportunity to work among them. I can't wait to get started."

Prior to Chicago, Davis' run at Southern Vermont included a 2014 season that saw the most wins in program history, a standard the team equaled in 2015, and the program's first trip to the conference tournament.

From Sutton, Vt., Davis graduated from Southern Vermont in 2012 with her bachelor's degree in business administration/sports management. In April 2016, she was inducted into the Southern Vermont College/Saint Joseph College Athletics Hall of Fame.

Email coach

Nicole Arias

Nicole Arias joined the Princeton softball staff as an assistant coach prior to the 2015 season.

For eight seasons prior to coming to Princeton, Arias was the head softball coach at nearby West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South, leading her team to the NJSIAA postseason in each of her last seven seasons while winning three Colonial Valley Conference divisional titles and a Mercer County Tournament title in 2009. Also while at WW-P South, Arias served as an assistant varsity and head junior varsity field hockey coach.

As a player, Arias competed collegiately at William Paterson University, starting at third base and as a backup catcher. William Paterson won NJAC titles in 2003 and 2005, an NCAA East Regional title in 2005 and a Division III College World Series appearance that season. Arias caught at WW-P South before heading to William Paterson, serving as team captain in the 2000 and 2001 seasons while earning first-team all-conference honors in 2001. Arias played club softball for the West Windsor Wildcats, the ASA Gold Middletown Magic, the Yardley Royal Ladies and the Madison Avenue Women's Team. Arias has also played for the USA Maccabi Women's National Softball Team, winning the gold medal at the 2007-08 Pan American Maccabi Games in Argentina and the 2009 and 2013 World Maccabi Games in Israel.

Arias, who graduated from William Paterson in 2006 with a bachelor's degree in exercise and movement science, is a health and physical education teacher at Community Middle School in Plainsboro, N.J. She is bronze-level certified by the National Federation of State High School Coaches, holds a Positive Coaching Alliance Double-Goal Coach certification, and is a member of the National Fastpitch Coaches Association and the USA Field Hockey Coaches Association.