Lauren Burke Smith

Lauren Burke Smith was an American field hockey coach and athletics administrator whose career spanned Division I programs in Connecticut, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, as well as national talent pathways with USA Field Hockey. A Mahopac, New York, native and University of Vermont Catamount, she died on 24 September 2026 after living privately with cancer for several years. She was with her family when she died. Reports of her age at death have varied; one early account put her at about 39. Her exact birth date has not been published.

At Vermont she earned a B.S. in physical education and exercise and movement sciences in 2009 after playing field hockey from 2005 through 2008, seasons that helped set program marks for wins and tournament appearances. She served four years on Vermont's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and as a board member from 2007 to 2009. In 2012 she completed an M.A. in business sport management and instructional leadership at Robert Morris University, where she had begun coaching as a graduate assistant in 2011.

Her Division I coaching path then took her to Sacred Heart University as first assistant coach, where the Pioneers earned the NCAA Division I field hockey highest team GPA in 2012. She later joined Rutgers as first assistant in the Big Ten. Under that staff the Scarlet Knights reached the Big Ten Tournament in 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2018, produced the program's strongest season since the early 1980s in 2016, and broke into the NFHCA top 20 in 2017 and 2018. Earlier she had also led Somers High School varsity field hockey from August 2010 to June 2011.

In July 2019 Penn State Field Hockey named her director of operations under head coach Char Morett-Curtiss, citing more than a decade of Division I playing and coaching experience. Alongside college work she served USA Field Hockey as a high performance coach, Futures head and assistant coach, and regional selector, roles that kept her close to developing players nationwide.

She married Stuart Stu Smith, later associated with Penn State field hockey goalkeeping, in December 2018. They had a son, Burke. Friends remembered her rare ability to make people feel seen, cared for and important. A GoFundMe organized by Marisa Viola after her death, shared by USA Field Hockey, asked support for Stu and Burke and described Lauren as a devoted mother, wife, daughter, sister and friend.

Lauren Burke Smith died on 24 September 2026. The field hockey community, including USA Field Hockey and the college programs she had served, mourned a coach and operations leader whose work spanned high school, Division I and the national pathway. No public funeral details or disclosure of cancer type had been released as of late September 2026.