Inheriting a team that averaged just over six wins per season in the nine years prior to her arrival in 2007, Cristina Lukas has led the Dominican University softball program to a 418-281 record while sporting a 480-352 career record.
During her tenure, the Stars have rewritten the program’s record book, posting records for wins in a season (30, 2009 & 2017), batting average (.361, 2010), slugging percentage (.552, 2010), on-base percentage (.415, 2009), runs scored (313, 2009), runs batted in (270, 2009), total bases (616, 2010), doubles (84, 2010) and home runs (43, 2009). On the defensive side, her squads have set program marks for fielding percentage (.957, 2016), team earned run average (2.53, 2013) and batters struck out (315, 2013).
Individually, Lukas has recruited and coached 12 NFCA All-Region athletes including Sarah Budz who became the program’s first NFCA All-American Selection and was named the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) Player of the Year in 2011. In 2013, Emily Mahoney became the first pitcher to garner All-Region honors at Dominican University, claiming the NACC Pitcher of the Year award and smashing the program's record for strikeouts in a season with 251.
Lukas has guided the Stars to the NACC tournament in 12 of the last 15 seasons including appearances in the NACC Tournament championship in 2009 and 2012.
Lukas came to Dominican with coaching experience at the club, high school and collegiate level. Before Dominican, Lukas served as an assistant coach at Ball State University. As a member of the Cardinals' coaching staff from 2004-2006, Lukas was largely responsible for the development of the pitchers. In 2005, Lukas helped the staff to a 2.37 conference earned run average, the best by a Ball State pitching staff in four seasons. In her second season, one of Lukas' pitchers was named to the Mid-American Conference Second Team, the first pitcher to receive an All-Conference award since 2002.
Lukas has also made stops at the University of New Haven and Quinnipiac University. As the head coach at New Haven from 2000 to 2003, Lukas helped build a program that struggled through an eight-win season the year before to a team that eventually posted 26 wins in her final season at the helm. From 2000 to 2003, Lukas helped the Chargers' pitching staff lower their team ERA from 2.19 in her first year to 1.19 in her final season. As the pitching coach at Quinnipiac, three of her pitchers ranked among the top four in the conference in earned run average after her first season with the team.
A 1995 graduate of SUNY New Paltz, Lukas led all Division III pitchers with 232 strikeouts during her junior season, averaging 7.7 strikeouts per game to go along with 19 wins. For her efforts, she earned All-region and All-State honors. Lukas was named the SUNY New Paltz team MVP twice and was named to the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) All-Conference Teams during her junior and senior seasons. As a senior, Lukas received the Carol Eckman Award for Outstanding Female Athlete of the Year at SUNY New Paltz.
In addition to her responsibilities with the softball team, Lukas serves as an Assistant Director of Athletics, Senior Woman Administrator and recruiting coordinator for the department.
