Lacrosse coach fired after players allegedly threatened to kill teammates

WASHINGTON — The coach of a women’s college lacrosse team in Maryland has been fired after five players were suspended for allegedly threatening teammates online, school officials said on Wednesday.

University of Maryland Baltimore County women’s lacrosse head coach Tony Giro is no longer with the team, school spokeswoman Dinah Winnick said in a statement. She gave no reason for the dismissal.

Five players have been suspended from the school after allegedly making violent threats against teammates.

Athletic director Tim Hall told local media the mostly junior and senior players made the comments threatening to hurt freshman teammates on March 6 in an online chat group.

Hall identified the students as Alyssa Semones, Brittany Marquess, Mackenzie Reese, Amber Kovalick and Meghan Milani.

The Baltimore Post-Examiner website obtained 16 pages of text screenshots containing the posts. In one text, a player asked if she could threaten the freshmen.

Another player responded, “Can we just kill them?” One replied, “I’ll pitch in.”

Kovalick, Milani, Reese and Semones apologized in a statement on Monday. The investigation is continuing.