CMS Men's Soccer Earns West Region Coaching Staff of the Year Honor

CLAREMONT, Calif. - Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Men's Soccer Head Coach Matt Edwards and assistant coaches Julian Ortega, Eric Young and Ethan Kable were named the United Soccer Coaches NCAA Division III West Region Coaching Staff of the Year, the organization announced this morning.

Edwards and his staff helped CMS make program history this fall, including sweeping both the regular season and postseason SCIAC titles for the first time since the league introduced the postseason tournament in 2006. The Stags finished 16-4-2 overall, and won four straight postseason 2-0 games, including the SCIAC semifinals and finals over Occidental and Redlands, and the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament over Texas Lutheran and Trinity. 

The two NCAA wins advanced the Stags to the NCAA Round of 16 for the first time since 1985, when the program advanced that far three years in a row (including reaching the national championship game in 1983). CMS last won an NCAA game in 2011, defeating Chapman in the opening round before falling to Redlands in the regional finals. 

Today's award marks the second year in a row that Edwards and his staff have been bestowed with a Coaching Staff of the Year honor. Last season, the Stags earned the SCIAC Coaching Staff of the Year Award, after winning the regular season title and finishing 15-2-1 with the top defense in the country statistically (0.22 goals against average), a dramatic improvement from an injury-plagued 4-11-1 season in 2017. 

After compiling a 31-6-3 record in the last two years and winning back-to-back SCIAC regular season titles, Edwards and his staff will welcome back nine starters next year in their quest to three-peat, losing only defensive captain Adam Singer, the SCIAC Player of the Year, and forward Cole Smith, a second-team All-SCIAC selection, from their usual starting eleven.