At Fayetteville Manlius, Kristen Taylor established herself among Central New York’s best females to play the game of lacrosse. A three-time All-American (‘04-’05-’06), three-time 1^st team All-CNY, 2006 CNY Player of the Year, two-time Class A NYS Tournament Most Valuable Player and scoring over 300 goals during her four years. Kristen had the unique opportunity of not only playing for her mom, hall of fame coach Kathy Taylor, and also alongside her sister Kelly, who she would later follow to UNC. It was during these years together that the team also won back to back Class A state champions (04 & 05). During her time at FM, Kristen also excelled in the classroom as a three-time Academic All-American and member of the symphony Orchestra.

In addition to her lacrosse accomplishments, Kristen was a two-year captain of the FM cross-country and indoor track teams. Kristen led the cross-country program to a Class A sectional championship and was named a 1st-team All-State, All-CNY, and All-Conference selection. A four-year member of the indoor track team, Kristen competed in events from 800m – 3000m, advancing to the state championships.

Following her years as a Hornet, Kristen headed down to Chapel Hill to attend the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from 2006-2010. As a freshman, she scored a career-high & team-high 43 goals. Kristen earned ACC Rookie of the Week twice, was 1^st team All-ACC, UNC Rookie of the Year, and among three rising sophomores chosen nationally to play for the USA Developmental Team. 

During the summer following a breakout freshman year, Kristen became very sick and was diagnosed with Celiac Disease & later by UNC doctors with Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS) which causes frequent blackouts, dizziness and extreme fatigue. Despite a roller coaster of health challenges, Kristen continued preserving on the field and remained a starter and one of UNC’s top 2-3 point scorers each season. As a junior, she led the ACC with game-winning goals & was named to the All-ACC Team as she helped lead UNC advance to its first ever National Championship game in 2009 alongside her sister, Kelly. In her final season (2010), Kristen was named a captain and led the team in points as they once again advanced to the NCAA Quarterfinals. Kristen was honored with the 2010 UNC Athletic Director Scholar athlete of the year award after yearly honors on the ACC Academic Honor Roll. 

Post-college, Kristen has built a career in brand marketing & partnerships – working for Nike, Under Armour and currently leads Global Partnerships at lululemon. Kristen was inducted into the F-M Hall of Fame in 2016, also the year that the stars aligned for her and Kelly to return to the FM sidelines, this time as co-coaches. Together, the sisters re-ignited the FM program – beating West Genesee for the first time in 10 year and advancing to the state tournament all three years. Kristen is the proud mother of her two sons, Tommy (7) and James (5) and was most recently inducted into the 2024 class of the Greater Syracuse Sports Hall of Fame.