JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – The National Soccer Coaches Association of American has announced its Regional Staff of the Year awards and the Carson-Newman women's soccer coaching staff led by head coach Richard Moodie has been recognized as the staff of the year for the Southeast Region in Division II.
Moodie and his assistants, Marissa Williams, Rob Ward and Wayne Harvey, helped guide the Eagles to a 17-4-1 record. The team also earned South Atlantic Conference regular season and tournament championships for the second consecutive season, as well as a second straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
The fifth-year coach from Stenhousemuir, Scotland helped mold an offense that led the SAC with 78 goals and averaged more than three-and-a-half scores per game. Those totals also put C-N in the top five nationally. Their goals-against average of .626 ranked them 21st in Division II. This past season also marked the second time in-a-row a Carson-Newman player was selected as SAC Player of the Year, with Lauren Wade (Coleraine, Northern Ireland) picking up the honor after Julianne Herrity (Donegal, Ireland) collected the award in 2015.
During his time coaching the women's team, Moodie has amassed a record of 48-38-7, including a 36-7-1 record since the start of 2015. He is also undefeated in SAC postseason play the last two years and has a pair of NCAA Tournament victories to his credit.
This year, Moodie had help from a pair of new additions to the coaching staff in Ward and Williams. Ward joined up following a career as a defenseman at Trevecca Nazarene. Williams had a four year career as a goalkeeper at Tusculum College and also spent a year as an assistant at DeSales University before coming to Mossy Creek. Harvey is in his ninth season as a member of the coaching staff and has been involved with the game of soccer for more than 20 years.
This award is one of 24 given out by the NSCAA to coaching staffs in each region of the country in Divisions I, II and III and they will all be honored at the College Coaches Awards Reception, presented by Surf Cup Sports, on January 12th, 2017.
The eight staffs in each NCAA Division will also be on the ballot for NSCAA National Staff of the Year award. That honor will be announced on December 20th. Voting will begin on November 29th and conclude on December 6th.
-CN-
