As a star midfielder over four seasons for the women’s lacrosse teams of Pfeiffer University, her alma mater, Julia Barbato ’24 delivered in all the tangible ways that matter. She started in 56 of the 58 games in which she played. She scored 153 career goals and had 73 career assists (226 points). In the Falcon record books, she’s now second among women’s lacrosse players in career points (226), third in career assists (73), fourth in career goals (153), and 10th in career caused turnovers (74). She and Lindsey Boswell ’05, now the Head Coach of women’s lacrosse at High Point University, are the only Falcons to compile 14 points (goals and/or assists) in a women’s lacrosse game.

Barbato also showed great leadership and other important intangibles on the field and in the locker room during her career as a lacrosse player. This helps explain why, in 2025, less than a year after graduating, she was named Interim Head Coach of the women’s lacrosse program at Pfeiffer. She was promoted to Head Coach this season.

“I’m thrilled that I got the Head Coach job,” Barbato said. “It’s a dream come true to lead a team on which I once played.”

Barbato says she lobbied Sue Murphy, her predecessor, for a chance to “be a volunteer assistant and just come back and help because I loved coaching.” She also coached for travel lacrosse teams on fall weekends during her student days at Pfeiffer.

Barbato, 23, is one of the youngest head coaches in NCAA history. Her current Pfeiffer appointment is similar to the one secured by Erin Matson, the former field hockey superstar at UNC Chapel Hill who became Head Coach of the Tarheels’ field hockey program in 2023, shortly after graduating. Both Barbato and Matson began their head-coaching careers without the seasoning that most players of any collegiate sport gain as assistant coaches for several years, often bouncing from team to team until an opportunity to run a program emerges.

Jeff Childress ’89, a former Falcon athlete who now serves as Special Assistant to the President and Interim Athletic Director at Pfeiffer, suggested that Barbato was more than up to the challenges of a head-coaching role, pointing out that Barbato’s Falcons have gotten off to a 4-0 start this season.  Roster numbers on her team are also on the rise, arguably the most critical factor in ensuring that the women’s lacrosse program at Pfeiffer thrives.

“Julia played for and gained insights from several coaches while she was on the women’s lacrosse team at Pfeiffer,” Childress said. “I think she gained a lot of valuable experience learning first-hand what she felt was important as a player and now she relates very well with our players and parents.”

Childress added that Barbato leads by example: “The players on her team know that she only wants the best for them and the team. Julia does a very good job of planning ahead. She has let the team members know her expectations and holds them accountable. She is a player’s coach.”

Like Matson, Barbato has been coaching several former teammates, including Analise Robinson ’26, a midfielder who played with Barbato from 2022 through 2024.

Robinson suggested that the change in her relationship with Barbato has gone smoothly.

“I always respected Julia when we were teammates, so the transition was seamless,” Robinson said. “She knows me and my playing style more than anyone, so she truly does know how to coach to my strengths and how to challenge me to be better every day.”

As Barbato settles in as Head Coach, she continues tackling what she views as her biggest challenge: “seeing the bigger picture.”

“As players, we focus mainly on what our role is and winning the game,” she said. “But as a coach, you have to strategize all at once on the plans, logistics, culture, and winning.”

The top “culture” priority for Barbato is recruiting. As Interim Head Coach, she inherited a team of about 12 players, the number needed to field a complete side in lacrosse, including a goalkeeper. She now has 17 players and wants to have at least 24 in order to a) ensure two sides of 12 can scrimmage against each other in practice and b) enlarge the pool of substitutes at her disposal during games.

As a recruiter, Barbato looks forward to “talking up” Pfeiffer and the role of women’s lacrosse on campus, over a coaching tenure she wants to last for many years to come. “I love to tell people how great Pfeiffer is,” she said. “I could talk about it all day long.”