Wendy Pinta

Legendary Coach Wendy Pinta joins the Impact Lacrosse staff after announcing her retirement from a historic coaching career at Upper Arlington High School.

Wendy Pinta returned to Upper Arlington High School as the head coach after three years as the head coach of Hastings Middle School in Upper Arlington, Ohio. While at Hastings, she grew the program from 18 to 52 players. Coach Pinta has been involved in coaching and playing high school lacrosse for over 30 years. Coach Pinta starting playing lacrosse in 1983 as a defender on Thomas Worthington High School's team. In 1985 she helped Worthington to a title when they won the Midwest Schoolgirl's Lacrosse Association Championship. She continued to play lacrosse at The Ohio State University from 1987-1992. While there, she was selected to the Collegiate Midwest Team #1 that competed at the National Tournament in 1989. Between 1987 and 1990 she coached the junior varsity team at Thomas Worthington under the direction of John Galipault.

In 1991 Coach Pinta began her coaching career at Upper Arlington High School at the junior varsity level. In 1992 she assumed the head coaching position. Under her direction, the varsity squad made eight appearances in the Midwest Tournament. The Golden Bears went on to win state titles in 2002, 2004, 2005, 2008 (Coached by Lynda (McCandlish) Phlipot), 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019. Additionally, 2019 marked the Golden Bears' 15th consecutive Regional Championship win. During her high school coaching career she has amassed a record of 404-106-14, having earned the first-ever OCC Coach of the Year Award in lacrosse for the 2007 season. That same year she was also honored by the Ohio Schoolgirls Lacrosse Association for 16+ years of service. During her tenure as head coach she has served on the National Scholastic All-American and Academic All-Academic Selection Committees and on the Board of the Ohio Schoolgirls Lacrosse Association.

Currently, she serves as Secretary to the Ohio High School Girls Lacrosse Coaches Association. In 2009 Coach Pinta was inducted into US Lacrosse's "Century Club" which was established to recognize high school coaches of girls lacrosse who have achieved significant levels of varsity wins in their coaching careers. In the same year, she was also inducted into the Ohio Lacrosse Hall of Fame for her many contributions to the game. In 2017, Coach Pinta was named the National Coach of the Year in girls lacrosse by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) Coaches Association.

In addition to her high school coaching, Coach Pinta also was instrumental in founding and organizing both the Jones and Hastings middle school lacrosse programs as well as the Upper Arlington Lacrosse Association, which provides youth lacrosse programs and clinics for elementary students.

Coach Pinta also co-founded the Ohio Middle School Girls Lacrosse Association with Laurie Johnson in 1994. More recently, Coach Pinta was the founder and head coach of Major Force Lacrosse, a position she resigned from in June, 2011. During her five years as head coach of MFL, Coach Pinta helped transition more than 200 players to the collegiate ranks.

She currently is the director of the Lady Bears Lacrosse Camp, which provides instruction to kindergarten-high school players during the summer. Coach Pinta also spent four years coaching her daughter's UALA youth team.

Coach Pinta teaches physical science and honors science research at Upper Arlington High School. She is the mother to two children: David (age 20) and Clara (age 18), who attended Upper Arlington High School.