Women’s Soccer to Celebrate 20th Anniversary with New Coach

One promise. That’s all.

As Geoff Bennett heads into his first season as head coach of the Colorado College women’s soccer team, his only guarantee focuses on a single, key trait that will define the Tigers in their 20th season of NCAA Division I competition.

Geoff Bennett, Women's Soccer Coach

“We never will be outworked,” Bennett said after the completion of spring practice in May. “We will be the hardest-working team we see this season — a team with a passion for the game that never quits.”

When Bennett was hired at CC in April, he inherited a program rich in tradition and success. Not only does Colorado College lay claim as a pioneer in the evolution of collegiate women’s soccer since the mid-1970s, but it also soared as a perennial contender for the national championship in the late 1980s and early ’90s. Inspired by a history that now spans 30 years and parts of four decades overall, Tigers’ ultimate aim is to rekindle those glories of the past.

Bennett, who previously fast-tracked women’s programs at St. Bonaventure and the University of Rhode Island from relative obscurity to unprecedented heights, is uncompromising in his approach to success. “I expect and will demand that we are ready to compete at every given moment, whether in training or in any game situation,” he said. “We’ll do whatever it takes.”

He has inherited a corps of veterans ready to make the next step. The Tigers, who once earned eight consecutive post-season bids (1984-1991), clawed through one of their toughest schedules ever to finish just one victory shy of .500 in 2003.

Of the 19 returning letter winners, eight are established starters. Goalkeeper and co-captain Meghann Loseke ’05 is one of four seniors on the roster, joining offensive threats Ashley Hooverson ’05, Christie Ginanni ’05, and Kelly Sweitzer ’05 as fourth-year regulars. Eight more players, including defender/co-captain Laura Wilcox ‘06, make up a junior class that accounted for 81 percent of the team’s scoring as sophomores a year ago.

Successful wherever he’s been

So, who is Geoff Bennett and where did he come from?

Bennett, the seventh head coach in the 30-year history of women’s soccer at Colorado College, brings a proven record of success to CC from St. Bonaventure and the University of Rhode Island, as well as from his own alma mater of Hartwick College.

A 1995 graduate of and former player at Hartwick, Bennett has compiled a 48-41-10 record (.535) in five seasons combined as a Division I women’s head coach. In his second year at St. Bonaventure, he helped the Bonnies earn their first-ever berth in the Atlantic 10 Conference post-season tournament. In 2002, his second campaign at the Rhode Island helm, the Rams won their first Atlantic 10 regular-season title and made their initial appearance in the NCAA playoffs. He twice was named conference coach of the year.

Bennett returned to his alma mater last year as an assistant coach of its nationally ranked men’s soccer team. The Hawks finished 15-2-1 in 2003.

“We’re going to do our best to build on our history at Colorado College and bring this program back to where it was during its glory years,” he said. “We’ll devote every ounce of energy we have toward earning a berth in the NCAA tournament.”

A three-year (1992-94) member of the soccer team at Hartwick, Bennett was a major contributor on the 1993 squad that finished with a 16-4-2 record and advanced to the third round of the NCAA tournament. He was a fourth-round draft pick of the NPSL’s Milwaukee Wave in 1994.