SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Sacramento State Athletics Director Terry Wanless has named Katie Poynter head women’s soccer coach, it was announced today. Poynter served as the team’s interim head coach in 2004 and is the third head coach in the program’s history (1994-present). “I am very excited that Katie has excepted our offer to be the next women’s head soccer coach,” Wanless said. “Her efforts this past fall in helping restructure our soccer program were important in our decision to name her our permanent head coach.”
In 2004 , the team finished with three players earning all-Big Sky Conference honors while five players were named to the all-Big Sky Conference academic team.
“We made some very big strides in growth last season,” Poynter said. “We are headed in the right direction with our mental maturity and with some small changes we should be contending for a Big Sky Conference title in the near future.”
Most recently, Poynter brought in a recruiting class of six freshmen, who will enroll at Sacramento State in the fall of 2005.
“Our core group of starters are returning and we have added new players who have the potential to make an immediate impact,” Poynter said. “There is a foundation to build on. The players in the program now want to do what it takes to win. They want to play soccer, win and create a successful environment on and off the field.”
Poynter joined the Hornet coaching staff in 2003 after serving as an assistant at Azusa Pacific University under head coach Jason Surrell. In one year with the Cougars, she helped lead the squad to a 16-4 record including a 9-1 mark in the Golden West Conference. Azusa Pacific also finished as the runner-up in the NAIA national championship game that same season.
As a player, Poynter (formerly Sheppard) played three years at UC Irvine (1997-99) before transferring to Santa Clara in the spring of 2001. The Broncos went on to win the 2001 NCAA National Championship with a 1-0 victory over North Carolina in Dallas.
At UC Irvine, she started 48 of 56 games as an outside midfielder and was a two-time all-Big West Conference selection. She was also selected to the Soccer Buzz all-region team. A 1997 graduate of Washington High School in Fremont, Calif., Poynter recorded 155 career points (65 goals and 25 assists) and was named all-Mission Valley Athletic League in each of her three seasons with the Huskies.
