For Massachusetts women’s lacrosse coach Angela McMahon, life has come full circle.

Sitting in her office on a leather couch embroidered with the UMass logo, the former Minutewoman finds herself prepping for a third season at the helm of the program that began her collegiate career.

Completely settled in, the Weston native has led UMass to a 36-5 record through two campaigns, the best in NCAA history for any women’s lacrosse coach during their first two seasons at a school.

McMahon contributed her success in Amherst to comfort from finding a great fit for herself, personally and professionally.

“I thought that UMass, in terms of its location, athletic department, academics and all that it has to offer is such a great place to build a championship type program,” McMahon said. “I always thought that, even when I was here back in 2000.”

Before coaching in the Pioneer Valley, McMahon transferred to Northwestern in 2001, leaving to play for and study the game of lacrosse under coach Kelly Amonte Hiller.

“I wanted to push myself,” McMahon said. “There was such a great opportunity to go and learn from the best lacrosse mind and one of the best coaches in the world. At that point she hadn’t necessarily proven herself because she hadn’t won seven national championships yet, but I knew that had the potential to happen.”

After having the chance to be a part of a start-up program, finishing her career with the Wildcats ninth all-time in assists, McMahon returned to the Minutewomen in 2007, this time as an associate head coach for Alexis Venechanos.

Time put in as an assistant for two years helped McMahon hit the ground running when she took the reigns of the Minutewomen.

“I already got a taste of (UMass) and started to make my imprint on the program back when I was an assistant,” McMahon said. “I had a huge hand in recruiting, developing the players and establishing a relationship with some of the players I (actually) came back to coach.”

McMahon continues to approach every year with a clean slate, not allowing her team to rest on its laurels.

Junior attack Katie Ferris said she feeds off of McMahon’s coaching approach of playing to everyone’s strengths and that it sets the tone for what needs to be done.

“She’s all about work ethic,” Ferris said. “If you make a mistake, it’s fine if you’re working hard, but if you make a mistake and you’re not, she’s going to be mad. She’s very focused – we’re here to do one thing, we’re not here to goof off – we’re here to work.”

McMahon channels lessons learned from her playing days as well as previous coaching positions in order to put the best possible product on the field.

“There’s obviously a lot of differences in each situation,” McMahon said. “But I think some of the common themes I learned as a player that I try to bring in is that hard work, competitive mentality and really embracing everyone on the team.”

Although McMahon said she wants her current team to have no expectations for the upcoming season, they can expect to forge camaraderie through giving everybody equal ownership of the program.

Ferris said her team is fully committed to challenging themselves in order to improve their caliber of play, saying she would play the best team in the country every day if she could.

Friends of the Minutewomen

Further solidifying the drive to succeed is Lexie Williams, an adopted team member, introduced to the squad through the “Friends of Jaclyn” foundation in 2006.

Started by Denis Murphy in 2005 after his daughter was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor a year earlier, the foundation has grown to include more than 300 affiliates who have all paired with a child of their own.

The foundation began in 2005, when Northwestern added Jaclyn as an honorary member and then went on to win the national championship. Now, UMass has continued the legacy and became the second team to adopt a child suffering from a brain tumor.

McMahon said the Minutewomen benefit greatly from having an adopted teammate.

“Basically, Lexie’s quality of life skyrocketed because she had these 30 new big sisters,” McMahon said. “She comes to every single home game, a lot of away games, she’s right on the sideline. She’s literally just like another team member, the girls love her, she loves the girls, and it’s just a constant avenue of support.”

McMahon said having Williams around the team puts things into perspective for her players, who maintain contact with her on a weekly basis.

“It brings it back in terms of remembering what we’re playing for,” McMahon said. “Having fun, but also (recognizing) the fact that in the position we’re in. We are role models to young people, whether they’re aspiring to be lacrosse players or they’re just looking to have good female role models around them. It definitely helps bring a little bit more of the bigger picture.”

In addition to her team’s involvement in “Friends of Jaclyn,” McMahon also founded Destination: Hawaii, selecting 25 girls from across the United States to participate in a training program held in Hawaii.

“It’s more of a sports camp,” McMahon said. “It’s an instructional, sort of adventure type thing we started and did for three or four summers.”

With a 1-year-old daughter and another child on the way, expected in July, McMahon turned the reigns of Destination: Hawaii over to other collegiate coaches willing to assume the responsibility.

“Between starting a family and flying on a 12-hour flight every summer, it became a little too much,” McMahon said. “It might be something to get back into at some point, but not right now, life’s a little too crazy.”

Peter Cappiello can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @MDC_Cappiello.