MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. – While RMU women's lacrosse has garnered attention in recent seasons for its on-field success in the MAC, a trio of recent alumnae are making an impact off the field, catching the eye of the surrounding community and high school athletics. This past January, former Colonial Mackenzie Bell, at just 23 years old, was named head coach of the Moon High School women's lacrosse program, making an immediate impact in her inaugural season.

Bell quickly set her sights on building her coaching staff, with two familiar names at the top of her list: her best friends and former Colonial teammates, Haley Mojsej and Julia Koterwas. Bell described the decision to bring the pair on as an easy one. "I was like, 'Alright, who am I going to take with me?' And I called up Julia, and she said yes immediately. Then with Haley, with her CPA and studying for grad school, she said, 'I don't know.' I was like, 'Well, we have to do this! Come on, I know you want to.' So it ended up working out really well, and we all got hired in the middle of January."

While Mackenzie brought prior coaching experience from the Pittsburgh Premier Lacrosse Club, this marked the first significant coaching endeavor for Koterwas and Mojsej. They expressed nervous excitement about joining Bell's staff. Koterwas shared, "Yeah, I would say I was definitely, probably initially nervous because, similar to Haley, I'd never coached this age group before, and I just didn't know what to expect. But when we did go into those winter practices with them, the girls are just such a great group of girls. Like, they're so fun to be around. They want to learn from you. They're just continually bringing positive vibes."



The young coaches' first task was to instill a strong team culture. Their four-plus years within the RMU program provided a solid foundation for their approach at Moon. With each coach having experienced winning multiple MAC championships, it was time to share that knowledge with the next generation. Mojsej reflected on how their collegiate success translated to coaching: "I think we knew what it takes to win a championship. We've done it twice. We're the only group of kids that has won the MAC twice. So we knew what it took. And I think the biggest thing I took away was culture. It comes from the girls, but also the coaches. Everyone needs to be on the same page and motivated and passionate together. The second you have a few people or, you know, vibes get low, you have to pick them back up. So as a coach, you're kind of in charge of that, which was new for all of us."

The "family-culture" strategy seemingly benefited the Moon girls' lacrosse program, as the team rocketed to a 9-1 start in their 2025 season. The Tigers dominated conference play this past spring, boasting a 7-1 conference record and earning a first-round bye in the WPIAL 3A Tournament. Throughout the season, many moments stood out, with a few particularly catching the coaching staff's attention. Bell highlighted a special moment before their regular-season Upper St. Clair game: "Everyone had high nerves, and everything at that practice, we were giving our normal after-practice speeches and just getting them prepared for the next day and what's to come for the week. And one of our senior captains popped up and talked and said, 'Guys like, we're good too. Like, USC is good, but so are we.' It was so simple, all the freshmen were high in anxiety, and then they turned, looked, listened to Avery, and then you could see the release off their shoulders. It was just such a rewarding moment to see a girl that we've, you know, she was a natural-born leader, but like, you know, put in this leadership role, in this position on the team, and just was able to make everybody at ease. And honestly, it made us at ease. Like hearing that from her, we were like, 'Hey, you're right.'"



This first-year coaching staff led Moon to a WPIAL semifinals appearance in 2025, finishing the season fourth in 3A. Following the season, Mackenzie Bell was announced as the WPIAL 3A Coach of the Year, just one year after winning the MAC Championship as a player at Robert Morris. Bell, of course, attributed her season's success to her coaching staff, along with the unwavering support from the players' parents. Bell exclaimed, "I definitely attribute it to my coaches, my coaching staff, and the girls as well, and then also just the support around the community itself. Like the boosters were insane, the parents were insane. They would come, and like there was a bunch of people in the stands, I think, more than sometimes the [RMU] lacrosse games had. They came and they supported their girls, but they didn't just support their girls. They supported us as a coaching staff, supported me, you know, and wanted to make sure that we were giving the best opportunities to their girls, but they believed in me and us so much that it was easy to make it happen."

The success at Moon did not go unnoticed just five minutes down the road at RMU, as current players and coaches alike attended Tigers games in droves to offer support for their alumni. Mojsej commented on the support from her former team: "Yeah, they offered so much support. Emma came to a game, but they even rallied the RMU women's lacrosse team to come out to one of our games. And I can recognize those voices, and everyone turned around, and Sydney's voice, and our girls appreciated that more than they know. They were so excited that a Division I lacrosse team is showing interest and cheering for them. It was adorable." Bell even mentioned specific team-bonding exercises they adopted from RMU: "Emma and Courtney texted us saying, 'Hey, girls, we're so proud of you,' and stuff like that. I think we were so submerged in all the craziness that we didn't even have time to reach out. But we also took things that they did and brought it to our girls. Like, for example, we did the 'Reason Whys,' so we asked the girls right before sectionals what their reason why was, and why are they here? Why are they at lacrosse practice every day? Why do they want to be here? Why do they want to play lacrosse? And that was a really rewarding, you know, little meeting that we had, because they're saying just how much they loved being there."



This trio aims to pave the way for others seeking to follow their path and to highlight a sport not yet highly recognized in the Pittsburgh area. Bell is eager and hopeful that other future RMU alums will see the path she has taken post-graduation: "I think for future RMU alums, I think seeing the way that we had this success in such a short period of time will maybe even want them to, you know, come and join us at the Moon crew, and be able to go into that profession as well and just see the reward." Bell continued, "And don't get me wrong, like, every day where you're like, 'I have to work, and now I have to go coach.' But I think just seeing us do it and being an example for them, then, you know, I feel like they would be way more inclined to be able to go into this profession." Koterwas added that there are more opportunities in this area than people might think: "There's so many job opportunities tailored to majors. But also, you can just grow the community, in terms of lacrosse, around Pittsburgh as well. It's one of the most livable cities in the country, and I think that our group of alumni how we all chose to stay in Pittsburgh, and then we have such close relations. I do think, from an outsider's perspective, maybe I'm tooting my own horn, but it's very admirable. So maybe if I was an alumni and I wanted my class to stay, I'd be like, 'Oh, look what they're doing.' So yeah, I do think that, if anything, it just encourages people to stay in Pittsburgh and grow the game."

This coaching staff is still learning the ins and outs of high school athletics, but a WPIAL 3A Semifinals appearance coupled with multiple all-conference players and a Coach of the Year honoree in their first year seems like a promising start for this trio. This bond, which began over four years ago because of lacrosse, has now grown even stronger as these three coaches look to lead the next generation of future lacrosse greats right in their backyard.