June 08, 2006

LAURINBURG, NC—Stephen Belderes, head women’s lacrosse coach at St. Andrews Presbyterian College, has announced his resignation to pursue other career interests for the 2006-2007 year.

“I have known Coach Belderes since his first day at St. Andrews as a student,” said Athletic Director Howard Reichner. “Having him leave for his new position in Virginia is like having a son tell me he is leaving home to make his fortune. I will miss Stephen but I hope he will come back to St. Andrews often and I know he will represent us well. I wish him the very best.”

Belderes, who will be getting married this weekend, will be moving to Roanoke, Va., to join the faculty and coaching staff at North Cross School, a private K-12 prep school. Belderes’ decision to relocate was also based upon family influences as his grandparents live in Roanoke.

“It has been a great and wonderful experience to work for SAPC this past year,” said Belderes. “I have enjoyed coaching a wonderful group of student-athletes and will miss my alma mater greatly.”

Before leaving St. Andrews this summer, Belderes will be helping Reichner find a replacement for the women’s lacrosse program.

In his only season as the head women’s lacrosse coach, Belderes led the Knights to by far its best season in their very young three-year existence. Belderes guided SAPC to a 6-11 record, which was three more wins than the first two years combined. The Knights won their program’s first three CVAC games and finished in a two-way tie for fourth in the conference standings. The Knights scored 124 goals this season, more than doubling its total from 2005, while the defense lowered its goals against average from 17.0 in ’05 to 13.1 in ’06.

Belderes played his collegiate lacrosse at St. Andrews where he was a DSC Academic Team honoree, DSC All-Tournament Team selection and the recipient of the Knights Award. In his senior season Belderes led the Knights in goals while St. Andrews won a program best 10 games that season and made it to the semifinals of the NCAA Division II National Tournament.

The Orlando, Fl. native graduated in 2002 with a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics and Religious Studies.

Before becoming the head coach of the women’s team, Belderes served as an assistant coach for the men’s lacrosse team for two seasons. In his two years with the men’s program the Knights finished in the upper half of the Deep South Conference (DSC) both times.

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