Sierra Cockerille Joins Pirates as Assistant Coach
August 19, 2025 | Lacrosse
GREENVILLE, N.C. –Sierra Cockerille has been named as East Carolina lacrosse's newest assistant coach, the program announced on Tuesday.
We're thrilled to welcome Sierra to the Pirate family! said head coach Brittany Dipper. She brings a wealth of knowledge and experience from competing at the highest levels of the game. Her impressive collegiate career, combined with her professional experience and continued international play with the Haudenosaunee National Team, will bring a competitive edge to our program.
Sierra's diverse background and firsthand understanding of elite competition will be invaluable as we work to elevate our players and position our team to compete for conference championships and beyond.
Her knowledge, passion, energy, and relentless work ethic align perfectly with our team culture, making her an outstanding addition to our coaching staff. We're excited for the impact she will have on our student-athletes both on and off the field.
Cockerille joins the Pirates after two seasons at UMBC where she helped the Retrievers earned consecutive berths in the American East Conference Championships. During her two seasons, she helped guide six players to First Team All-Conference honors with four more earning Second Team nods. In 2025, the Retrievers earned two major awards with Katana Nelson and Emily Knapp earning Midfielder of the Year and Rookie of the Year nods.
Prior to UMBC, Cockerille concluded a decorated career as a midfielder at Syracuse. With the Orange, she finished with 76 career goals and 53 career assists in 73 games played. In her final season in 2023, the Baltimore native not only earned All-America recognition from both the IWLCA (third team) and Inside Lacrosse (honorable mention), but she helped her team to the NCAA Final Four where they fell in a tight battle with Boston college.
Outside of her collegiate career, Cockerille is a member of the Haudenosaunee Women's National Team with which she was named the Most Valuable Player of the Sixes Cup in 2021. In 2023 she and the Haudenosaunee Nationals won the PALA Sixes Cup in Jamaica. Most recently, in 2025 Cockerille helped the team to a bronze medal finish at the Pan-American Women's Lacrosse Championship where she was coached by a staff which included Dipper serving as an assistant coach.
Cockerille earned her undergraduate degree in 2022 in Human Development and Family Science.
