Michael Terranova joined the Harvard Lacrosse Program in August of 2022. Starting off his tenure as the Director of Lacrosse Operations, Terranova was promoted to an assistant coaching role in 2023, taking over the leadership of the team's faceoff and goaltending groups.
Terranova's biggest development story in 2026 was sophomore Graham Stevens, who started all 14 games in net and posted a .531 save percentage with 181 saves, including a career-best 22-save effort in the Charles River Rivalry win over No. 20 Boston University, the most saves by a Harvard goalkeeper since 2019. At the faceoff X, Terranova rotated a trio of Matt Barraco, Owen Umansky and Jackson Henehan, with Umansky pulling down a team-high 30 ground balls from the position and Barraco posting a career-best faceoff day against Princeton as the group continued to develop over the course of the season.
After being promoted to assistant coach prior to the 2024 season, Terranova has helped Harvard enter an era of success, assisting the coaching staff as the faceoff and goalkeeping coordinator. In 2024, the teams registered eight wins after jumping out to a 6-0 start, the best start to a season since 1990. Under Terranova's leadership, senior goalie Christian Barnard earned All-Ivy League honors after a career year in the cage. The success in 2024 laid the groundwork for what would be a historic season for HLX in 2025. The team not only made the Ivy League Tournament for the first time since 2016, but also was selected to compete in the NCAA Tournament for the second time in the past four seasons after a 10-win campaign. Terranova coached up first-year goalie Graham Stevens who made 170 saves during the season which went down as the most in a season for a first-year goalie in program history.
Terranova joins the Crimson after spending the last five seasons as the Head Men’s Lacrosse Coach and Admissions Liaison at Chestnut Hill College in Philadelphia. This was his second stint at CHC, the first lasting from 2009-2014 as the team’s Associate Head Coach. In his time at the helm of the program, Terranova led the team to a record of 44-24 and two Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Tournament Championships.
No stranger to the Division I lacrosse landscape, Terranova served as an Assistant Men’s Lacrosse Coach at Lafayette College in between his stops at CHC. Terranova was tabbed the offensive coordinator and face-off coach while in Lafayette, keying in on creating offensive sets and developing player skills. His other duties while with the Leopards included leading recruiting efforts, coordinating travel operations and managing all prospect camps and clinics.
A graduate of SUNY Buffalo, Terranova went back to school at Chestnut Hill College, completing a Master’s Degree in Administration of Human Services in 2017.
A native of Syracuse, N.Y. Terranova played football at Christopher Newport college before transferring to SUNY Buffalo. Terranova is excited to get to work with the Harvard men’s lacrosse team.
