After spending two seasons as the Eagles' top assistant, Christina Nikolai was elevated to the position of head coach of the women's lacrosse program at Embry-Riddle in August 2024.
In her first year leading the program in 2025, Nikolai led the Blue and Gold to the best season in program history. The Eagles were ranked as high as No. 4 in the nation and finished the year with a program-best 17-4 overall record. The Eagles posted a 6-1 record in Sunshine State Conference play, which included an upset of top-ranked Tampa, on the way to a share of the SSC regular season title, another program first. Embry-Riddle also advanced to its second straight Sunshine State Conference tournament and secured the program’s first NCAA II national tournament berth. As the No. 3 seed in the South Region, the Eagles defeated Mount Olive for the program’s first tournament victory.
Nikolai’s inaugural season as head coach also saw several student-athletes garner individual accolades. The Eagles had eight All-SSC selections, four All-Americans and three recognized as All-Region honorees. The Eagles also excelled in the classroom, boasting a 3.634 team GPA in Spring 2025.
Her successes in 2025 earned Nikolai Sunshine State Coach of the Year honors in her first season as a head coach.
As an assistant coach, she helped the Eagles to a 25-11 record and back-to-back Sunshine State Conference Tournament appearances over the last two seasons. The women's lacrosse program has been a mainstay in the IWLCA Top 25 poll and last season, rose to a program-best No. 8 national ranking.
Prior to her arrival at Embry-Riddle, Nikolai was team captain and a five-year starting defender for the Stetson women's lacrosse team. As a junior, she was named to the Atlantic Sun All-Conference first team after leading the team in caused turnovers and finishing sixth in the league in ground balls per game (2.22). She also garnered ASUN Honor Roll and IWLCA Academic Honor Roll honors in 2021 and was an ASUN Academic Honor Roll selection in 2022.
Nikolai spent a year and a half as the coach of the Burning River Lacrosse club program in Ohio. She was also a Student-Athlete Academic Success Specialist and Business Foundations tutor at Stetson.
A native of Medina, Ohio, Nikolai graduated from Stetson with and undergraduate degree in Business Administration in 2020 and earned her MBA in 2022.
