By Terrence Hinds, Staff Writer

Published in print Aug. 20, 2014

After finishing a respectable 10-6-4 last season, UNCG’s women’s soccer team is looking to have a stellar season this year especially after hiring new head coach Michael Coll.

Coll comes with a wealth of Division I experience and  will look to bring his winning ways to UNCG.

Coach Coll was previously the head coach at UNLV for two seasons and in his tenure, the Rebels compiled a record of 22-12-7.

During his first season at UNLV, Coll led the Runnin’ Rebels to an impressive record of 12-4-4, which amounted to  an impressive .700 winning percentage, the highest in the school’s history.

Coll led his team to a nine game winning streak that season, which was also a UNLV school record.

If Coach Coll can find a way to translate some of his previous success he has had at UNLV to UNCG, the Blue and Gold should be on their way to another positive season.

Coll comes to the Spartan program with a wealth of experience that he not only learned at UNLV.

Before his stop in Las Vegas, he was the assistant coach for the Penn State Women’s soccer program for eight seasons.

The program experienced enormous success during his tenure at the school which included: five appearances in the NCAA Sweet 16, a national semifinals berth in 2005 and eight straight Big Ten titles.

While at Penn State, Coll wore a number of different hats for the program.

His main assignment was recruiting coordinator for the Nittany Lions but he also handled other aspects of the team such as individual and team training, scouting and game preparation, video analysis, alumni relations and running the camp and clinic programs for Peen State.

His track record clearly shows that he has the ability to multi task and handle the burden of numerous activities for a major program.

Penn State women’s coach Erica Walsh, in a Spartan Athletics interview praised Coll: “I’m thrilled for Michael and … [I] believe his coaching and teaching philosophy are a great fit for the UNCG athletic department. He is extremely hard working and the players genuinely enjoy playing for him. As a student of the game, he is always working to improve as a coach and is one of the best motivators I have had the good fortune to work with in my career.”

Coll has garnered much praise from his work and his ability to motivate players which  is an extremely important quality to possess for a head coach of a team.

Coupled that with a hard work ethic and we should see drastic improvement in UNCG’s Women soccer program this year.

The team this year was picked to finish third in the annual Southern Conference preseason poll.

The Spartans had a record of 5-2-3 in the conference last year. One of this year’s standout players should be defender Georgia Brown.

Last year Brown was selected to the All-Freshman team, after scoring three goals and acquiring two assists during the season.

She will be a key component of this year’s team.

Up front, leading scorer Chesney White will be returning to the team which is also a big plus for the Blue and Gold.

As a sophomore, White appeared in all twenty games for the Spartans last year, led the team in scoring with six goals and recorded one assist on her way to making second team All Conference.

Brown and White should spearhead the talented roster of UNCG to not only improve upon last season’s record, but to also make a deep run in the SoCon Tournament at the end of the regular season.

The first regular season opponent the Spartans are set to face will be UNC- Charlotte at the UNCG Soccer Stadium Friday night at 7 pm.

Based on the excitement of a new coach as well as a skilled roster, Friday should hopefully be the first of many Blue and Gold wins this season.