Women’s soccer coach appointed

Jimmy McCumber Staff Writer

After several attempts to find a long-term head coach for the women’s soccer position, in early March, the Athletic Department announced the hiring of former Dartmouth Assistant Coach and German youth international player Richard Moller.

Moller has seven years of experience coaching college women’s soccer. He began as the Assistant Coach at Villa Julie, where his team reached the quarterfinal round in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Tournament. He then served as Assistant Coach at Smith College in 2001 and 2002. During his stay at Smith, the Pioneers won over Vassar 2-1 in overtime in their 2002 match-up.

After Smith, Moller was selected for his first collegiate head coaching job at Western Illinois for the 2003 and 2004 seasons. Last year, he was an assistant with Dartmouth’s Division I squad. “After my experience at Smith, I knew I wanted to become a head coach at a top academic school,” said Moller. “Coaching at Dartmouth opened the door for me, and the Vassar job opened up the next year.”

Prior to his career in coaching, Moller was an accomplished soccer player, both overseas and in America. Growing up in Germany, he played for the German Youth National Team from the U16 level through U20. He also played in Kaiserslautern’s youth system, which is one of the biggest professional clubs in Germany. At Towson University in Maryland, he was an All-American, and won the America East Conference Player of the Year Award in 1998.

He played professionally for one year with the Maryland Mania and the Baltimore Blast.

Moller will be the fifth coach in as many years for the women’s soccer team. In 2004, the Athletic Department decided not to hire Interim Head Coach Tony Mohammed for another season, despite his role in leading the team to its first winning record in four years. Mohammed is now an assistant with the men’s team at SUNY New Paltz. Last season’s coach, Sarah Dwyer-Shick, also stayed for only one season.

There was controversy over the hiring of Dwyer-Shick last season. While Vassar players were given an opportunity to interview candidates and offer their opinions, Dwyer-Schick was not among the team’s top choices for the position. After a 5-9-1 season, the team voiced their displeasure.

When interviewing candidates for the 2006 season, Moller was the team’s first choice.

Official spring practices begin next week for the women’s team, and Moller is enthusiastic about them. “I look forward to getting to know the team on the field,” said Moller. “Our goal this spring is to create a positive team chemistry.”

Moller also hopes for improvement as he enters his first season next fall. “Our main goals next season are process-oriented. We want to get better on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. One of our main mottos will be that we don’t care who we play or where we play, we care how we play.”