Siena lacrosse coach Liam Gleason dies at 41 after fall at home

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LOUDONVILLE, N.Y. (AP) — Siena men's lacrosse coach Liam Gleason has died, the school announced Wednesday, three days after he suffered a traumatic brain injury in a fall at his home. He was 41.

Gleason led the Saints to the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference championship and a berth in the NCAA tournament this past season, which was his seventh at the Loudonville, New York school.

“A sudden, senseless loss carries a kind of pain that defies understanding,” Siena President Chuck Seifert said. "It’s hard to imagine anyone more universally loved and admired than Liam. Our community was blessed by Coach Gleason’s life.”

Gleason leaves behind a wife and three children, and a fundraising effort for the family's needs going forward is underway.

Dozens of people — including Siena players in uniform, school officials and members of the University at Albany athletic community — lined a hospital hallway Wednesday afternoon to pay tribute to Gleason as he was being wheeled into surgery to donate some of his organs, Siena officials said. The school announced his death a couple hours later.

Gleason was a standout player at Albany, one of Siena's top rivals — with the schools separated by just a few miles. He began his coaching career as a Siena assistant, then returned to Albany as an assistant before coming back to Siena as head coach in 2018.

His funeral will be Saturday on Siena's campus, school officials said.