KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The United Soccer Coaches announced the Maryville women's soccer coaching staff as the NCAA Division II Midwest Region Staff of the Year on Friday. The Saints, led by Lori Chalupny, Eric Delabar, Ian McReynolds, and Jason Turkington, put together a historic 2022 campaign to earn the award for the first time in program history.
The Saints finished the season with a 12-3-6 overall record including their first win in the NCAA Tournament over Northern Michigan University and their first Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament Championship. Additionally, the women had five All-GLVC recipients, won three Offensive Player of the Week awards, put three on the College Sports Communicators Academic All-District® team, had Katie Nash selected to the D2CCA Midwest All-Region Team, and collected their first United Soccer Coaches All-American honor in Lexi Gentry.
After opening the season with a 2-1 upset win over No. 17 Ferris State University to set the tone for the regular season, the Saints posted an unbeaten record in the Great Lakes Valley Conference for the first time in program history at 6-0-6. Heading into the GLVC Tournament as the third seed, Maryville took down Drury University (1-0), No. 17 McKendree University (2-1), and the University of Illinois Springfield (2-1) to win their first GLVC Championship.
In their first NCAA Division II Tournament appearance, Maryville defeated the University of Northern Michigan on the strength of Lotte Brands' goal early in the second half. The magical run ended in the second round, however, with a 1-0 loss to site host Grand Valley State University.
Chalupny's staff will look to continue building onto the team in 2023 after setting the school's Division II-era record for wins (12), the most since a 13-win 2006 campaign.