 |
Rudy Meredith - Head Coach Women's Soccer, Yale University
Rudy Meredith, the winningest coach in Yale history with a 146-89-16 mark, begins his 15th season at the helm in 2009. During his tenure, Meredith has firmly established the Bulldogs as one of the most successful and respected women's soccer programs in the Northeast.
He is a three-time Northeast Region Coach of the Year and has guided the Bulldogs to the NCAA College Cup in 2002, 2004 and 2005. In 2005, the Bulldogs won a school record 15 games, captured the first outright Ivy League title in Yale history and advanced to the third round of the NCAA College Cup for the first time in school history. In the second round, Yale upset third-seeded Duke 2-1, scoring the winning goal with one second left in the second half, one of the most dramatic finishes in the history of the tournament. The Bulldogs were ranked 13th in the final NSCAA/adidas national poll.
In 2002, Yale made the first NCAA Tournament appearance in school history, upsetting Villanova in the first round before dropping a heartbreaking 1-0 decision to Nebraska in the second round. The Bulldogs returned to the NCAA Tournament in 2004 after winning 13 games and finishing second in the Ivy League.
Several individuals have earned accolades under Meredith's tutelage. Lorelei Wall '00 was named Yale's first Ivy League Rookie of the Year in 1996 and went on to receive first team All-Ivy honors the next three years. Crysti Howser was named Ivy League Rookie of the Year in 2005, and Christina Huang became only the second Yale player to earn All-America recognition when she was named to the second team in 2005. Meredith has coached 21 players to first team All-Ivy honors during his tenure.
In May of 2007, Meredith served as an assistant coach for the United States Under-20 Women's National Team that played three matches against top English clubs in Manchester, England. He worked primarily with the goalkeepers - Chantel Jones of Virginia and Penn State's Alyssa Naeher.
Prior to being named head coach at Yale shortly before the start of the 1995 season, Meredith served three years as an assistant coach under Felice Duffy. In his first year as an assistant, the Bulldogs captured their first Ivy League title, sharing the crown with Brown.
Meredith, who has the United States Federation license, also has considerable experience coaching youth teams, including working with the Kenyan National Team for six months. He has guided six Connecticut state champions, two regional champions and two national champions, the under-16 Weston Wild Things in 1998 and the under-19 Yankee United Nova in 1997. Meredith is currently on the Region I Olympic Development coaching staff.
As a player, Meredith was a member of the 1990 Southern Connecticut State University Division II national champion men's soccer team. He was an All-American at Montgomery Junior College and a high school all-state player in Maryland. He was inducted into the Montgomery College Athletic Hall of Fame in 2006. In recent years, Meredith has continued his playing career in Stockholm, Sweden. While serving as an assistant coach at Yale, Meredith was a physical education teacher at Vincent Muro Elementary School in New Haven.
|
 |
Todd Plourde
- Assistant Coach Women's Soccer, Manhattan University
Todd Plourde begins his third year as an assistant coach at Yale in 2009. He serves as the recruiting coordinator for the Bulldogs.
Plourde spent two years an assistant at Manhattan where he helped the Jaspers earn their first regional ranking. In the year before he arrived, the Jaspers had a record of 2-15-1. In 2006, the team won a school record 12 games.
Before Manhattan, Plourde was the head coach at Fairfield (CT) High School where he compiled a record of 103-28-11. During his tenure Fairfield won the 2002 Class LL State Championship and was the runner-up in 2003. In addition, Fairfield won the league title in 2002 and finished second in 2001. Plourde was named the FCIAC and Connecticut Post Coach of the Year in 2001. His overall high school record was 130-34-14.
Plourde is also a coach of the Connecticut United FC women's club team. Since 1997, the team has won six Connecticut Open Cup titles. In 2005, he was named the Director of Player Development CUFC. In addition, he has been a member of the Connecticut Olympic Development Program staff for six years.
Plourde is a 1994 Quinnipiac graduate with a degree in marketing. He was captain of the men's soccer team as a junior and senior and was a two-time All-Northeast 10 selection.
|
