Breanna Cavanaugh ’19, MA ’20 is back with the Cardinals for her second season as an assistant coach in the 2026 season.
Cavanaugh helped lead the Cardinals to another sensational season in 2025, winning 15+ games for the third straight year. Wesleyan rattled off seven straight wins including a 13-10 triumph over Middlebury in the NESCAC Semifinal, as the Cardinals snapped the Panthers' 67-game win streak in the process. With that win over Middlebury, Wesleyan advanced to the NESCAC title game for the second straight year and later qualified for the NCAA Tournament for the seventh straight non-COVID impacted season. The Cardinals defeated Babson and Rowan in the NCAA Tournament, advancing to the Quarterfinal round (Elite 8) for the second time in team history. Cavanaugh and the Wesleyan coaching staff were recognized by the IWLCA as the Berkshire Region 2025 Coaching Staff of the Year.
A familiar face to campus, Cavanaugh graduated from Wesleyan with a bachelor’s degree as a double major in biology and neuroscience & behavior in 2019 and later earned a master’s degree in neuroscience in 2020.
She played lacrosse all four years of undergrad at Wesleyan (2016-19) and was a member of the 2019 team that advanced to the Final Four (national semifinal round) of the NCAA Tournament. She was a two-time Scholar Athlete at Wesleyan while also earning IWLCA Academic Honor Roll and NESCAC All-Academic Team awards in 2018 and 2019. She was the winner of the Jones’ Leadership Award in her senior year.
Prior to Wesleyan, Cavanaugh coached for a New Jersey travel team and at the middle and high school levels. After graduation, she was certified as a high school lacrosse referee in 2024 and while in PA school in Manhattan, she did 1-on-1 personal training for four different girls for lacrosse speed and agility.
Cavanaugh currently works in Plastic and Reconstructive surgery with Hartford Healthcare and has served in this role since 2023 after graduating from the PA program at Weill Cornell Medical College that same year.
