Two Washington Township High School graduates are returning to their home turf.
The board of education approved the appointments of Edward McCusker to head the boys soccer program and Lauren Mazziotto to coach the field hockey program at an April 30 meeting. The duo will receive a stipend of $7,771 in their new roles.
The school’s sports hall of fame members are excited to get started. Mazziotto is a 1998 township high graduate and was selected for the hall of fame in 2008. She was a four-year standout on the field hockey and girls lacrosse teams, earning all-South Jersey and all-state honors in both.
Mazziotto went on to captain the Ohio University field hockey team while earning third-team National Field Hockey Coaches Association All-American and first-team all-Mid-American Conference honors as a Division I collegiate athlete, according to a school press release. She began her coaching career as an assistant at Wake Forest University from 2003 to 2005, helping to guide the Demon Deacons to back-to-back national championships.
In 2005, Mazziotto was named head coach at Chapel Hill (North Carolina) High School, where she led her team to the state championship in her first year. She was the state’s 2006 field hockey coach of the year and also served as a volunteer coach at Duke University. Mazziotto has a master’s in education degree in school counseling from the University of North Carolina.
“It is with great pride that we welcome back to Washington Township High School Lauren Mazziotto,” said the school’s director of athletics, Kevin Murphy. “Lauren enjoyed a distinguished career as a Minutemaids student athlete. She moved on to play and coach at the NCAA Division-I level, garnering accolades as both a player and coach.
“Lauren will bring passion to the sideline, a commitment to our student athletes and technical expertise to the field.”
McCusker is a 2015 township high graduate who was selected for the sports hall of fame in 2023. He was a three-year starter and team captain of the Minutemen boys soccer team, earning all-South Jersey, all-state, regional all-American, and South Jersey Defender of the Year honors. His teams won two South Jersey Group IV titles, three Olympic Conference crowns, two South Jersey Coaches Cups, and the school’s first state Group IV championship in 2014.
McCusker went on to play Division I soccer at Saint Joseph’s University, serving as a two-year captain and earning the program’s best teammate and Jack Dunn Leadership Awards, according to the press release. After college, he returned to his high-school alma mater as a history teacher.
During the last two boys soccer seasons, McCusker has served as an assistant coach to Shane Snyder, helping the Minutemen to back-to-back Tri-County Conference championships and the 2023 South Jersey Group IV title.
“It has been an honor to recommend coach McCusker to be just the third boys soccer head coach in the history of Washington Township High School,” Murphy noted of the new leader, who follows Snyder and Tom Patterson in the role. “I was fortunate to have watched Ed as a soccer player at Washington Township High School, establishing our Minutemen program as one of the finest in the state of New Jersey.
“Back on the sideline and in the classroom at Washington Township High School, Ed has truly established himself as one of the rising stars in New Jersey soccer coaching.”
