We continue our journey of getting to know coaches for various women's teams. This edition features the women's soccer coaches.
Karen Ferguson-Dayes, head coach
Coach KFD is one of the longest tenured coaches at Louisville and the longest Louisville women's soccer has had in its history. She took over in 2000 as the eighth head coach in program history.
Ferguson-Dayes is the winningest coach in program history, having over 200 total wins. She is the only coach in program history to lead the Cards to the NCAA Tournament.
Before coming to Louisville, Ferguson-Dayes was an assistant coach at Connecticut for three seasons. The Huskies made it to the Elite Eight or further in all three of those seasons. She was an assistant coach at Boston University for two years before that.
As a player, KFD spent her entire time at Connecticut, making it as far as the Final Four and being named to the All-Tournament team. She also played for the US National Team for two years.
Nick Stirrett, assistant coach
Stirrett joined the Cards during the summer of 2021 and is beginning his third season with Louisville.
He came to Louisville from Oregon State, where he was an assistant coach one year and an associate head coach the following year. The Beavers had one of the biggest improvements in a one-year stretch in NCAA women's soccer history.
Stirrett was at Illinois for three years as an assistant coach prior to Oregon State. He worked with the goalkeepers as well as being their recruiting coordinator.
He was with Penn State as an assistant coach for one season in 2015. The Nittany Lions won the national championship that season.
Before his transition into Division I, Stirrett was the head coach for the men's soccer team at Mount Union for two years. Before that, he was a head coach at Northern Illinois, DePauw, and Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology.
Hunter Norton, assistant coach
Norton has been with Louisville for eight seasons. The most recent six seasons, Norton has been an assistant. He was a volunteer assistant the first two years.
Prior to Louisville, Norton spent all four of his collegiate careers playing for Georgia Southern. He started every game in his career and earned multiple SOCON honors.
Jing Hughley, director of operations
Hughley has been with the Louisville women's soccer program since 2009, being the director of operations for the entirety of that period. She played a program support role for all Louisville sports for four years prior to that.
Hughley was a volleyball player at Louisville and never played soccer in college. She was a setter and earned several Conference USA accolades. The Cards made the NCAA Tournament in all four of her seasons.
Women's soccer has the first event of the 2023 season for Louisville Athletics when they face Miami University in a scrimmage in Oxford on August 6.Their first home event is on August 17.
Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!
Jared
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