Montreat College women's soccer is embarking on a new era this season as Courtney Nash takes command of the Cavaliers' program. A recent transplant from her home state of Michigan, Nash assumes her position as Head Coach determined to build a team that plays confidently and soundly; she knows what a successful team will look like. Says Nash, "I want a team that possesses the ball and dictates play from a midfield that we control."

Nash comes to Montreat with a wealth of experience in the game, ranging from collegiate starter to coach to player on a semi-professional women's soccer team. After growing up in Mason, Michigan, Nash played four years of varsity soccer as a central midfielder at Saginaw Valley State University in Michigan, from which she graduated in 2000. After a stint coaching local club and high school teams, she pursued a dream by moving, in 2003, to a little town she'd never heard of - Asheville, North Carolina - to play at the semi-professional level for the Asheville Splash.

Though she loved Asheville and the mountains, she accepted a call to return to the Wolverine State, where she coached a women's junior affiliate team of the Chicago Fire, a franchise in Major League Soccer (the MLS). In December 2009, eager to coach at the college level and excited at the chance to return to the mountains, she applied for the vacant position as Head Coach of the women's team at Montreat College. "Though I was pretty young to seek a head coaching job," Nash explains, "I thought, ‘why not?'"

So when Athletic Director Amanda Hollifield called from North Carolina and offered the post, Nash was surprised - but also ready to say "yes."

Coming off a difficult 2009 season during which Montreat slid to a 2-15-1 record, Nash admits that her first team faces hurdles. "We need to win our opening match to establish a confident mindset. Another obstacle we must overcome is that we have a very small squad; there are only fifteen girls on the roster right now," says Nash, acknowledging that the Cavaliers cannot suffer many injuries as a result. 

But what she has seen in two scrimmages has encouraged her. "The girls fought hard and played smart soccer. I want hard-working players who have ball skills that allow them to play with confidence." 

A coach who gets on the field and runs and plays with her squad, Nash herself exudes confidence about where her program can go: "We're going to play a possession-oriented style here, we're going to control the ball and the center of the field, similar to what Spain (recent World Cup winners) plays, and what Arsenal and Barcelona play." 

The Cavaliers can begin the pursuit of that very high standard of play when they take the field for the first game of the 2010 season on Friday, September 3 at 5:00 at Owen High School against Oklahoma Baptist University from Shawnee, OK.