She recently completed her third season at the helm of the EMU women’s soccer program, leading the Royals to a 10-9 season, their first winning record since 2008. As Kolb’s recruiting rebuilt the roster in 2013, the women more than tripled their win total from each of her first two seasons, which were each three-win campaigns.

“While I am excited about my new position at George Mason University, it was a difficult decision to make leaving an amazing group of soccer players, an awesome team of colleagues, and one of the best leaders I have ever worked for – Dave King,” Kolb explained.

Along with successfully re-tooling the Royals’ program, Kolb was a driving force in a number of significant initiatives in EMU’s work with their student-athletes, most visibly an academic support program and also a graduate assistant program.

Director of Athletics Dave King explained the impact Kolb had in her three years in Harrisonburg, rebuilding the soccer team while increasing both the retention rate and the GPAs of EMU’s student-athletes.

“Besides the responsibilities associated with head coaching, Sue used her interest in athletic administration to develop three programs that have greatly enhanced the athletic program,” said King. “The offering of graduate assistantships, attendance tracking and academic support, as well as a class for freshmen athletes are all programs that Sue was very involved in developing. I am grateful for her insights, persistence and creativity in putting together the details of these initiatives. ”

King praised Kolb for a tremendous work ethic in her numerous tasks of recruiting, meeting with students, coaching, visioning and working on her doctorate.

“Sue accomplished more in three short years than I expected of a young coach taking her first head coaching position,” he said. “Her interest in administration along with her desire to learn made her a valuable asset to the athletic department. She will be missed but I’m excited for the opportunities she will have to further her goals in athletic administration.”

Kolb hopes she was able to impact the lives of young student-athletes at EMU the same way her time at the school impacted her.

“Just as I hope my players at EMU will dream big and go after their dreams, I am doing the same,” she said. “EMU opened up an amazing door for me in collegiate coaching and administration. I am blessed to have had the mentorship, leadership, and trust from my colleagues and administrators, which has equipped me with the tools that I will use in my next journey in Division I.”

A national search for EMU’s next women’s soccer coach has already begun.

Heading into her third season at the helm of the 草莓社区 (EMU) women’s soccer program, coach Sue Kolb has turned a corner. She enters this campaign with the biggest roster she has had, but more importantly, half of the squad has experience in her system. Kolb thinks that alone will be a key in elevating her Lady Royals from the lower end of the Old Dominion Athletic Conference standings.

“I’ve learned that when making a change, it sometimes gets harder before it gets better,” explained Kolb. “I feel as though changing the culture and direction of the program over three seasons was necessary. Returning a strong group of sophomores, three key juniors, and one senior will be significant in terms of success for this upcoming year. The women know my coaching style, the style I want to play on the field, and my on the field/off the field expectations. This will be the first season where I feel I will be able to ‘coach’ rather than introduce.”

In an injury-riddled 2012, EMU entered with only one healthy player who had a full season of experience in Kolb’s system. The Lady Royals started 3-2 but finished 3-13-1 as just seven women played in all 17 games.

This year Kolb has ten returners bolstered by ten talented newcomers. She said that combination provides an energetic dynamic to the team.

“Leadership is our theme this year,” she said. “Many of the ladies possess great qualities to be strong leaders amongst our team. Our ten returners are the soul of our program, and I see them being great leaders by expanding their own expectations on to the freshmen which ultimately impact our team in great ways.”

The Eastern Mennonite women return all but one of their goals scored from last fall, and Kolb is intrigued to see her returners have another year of growth, combined with added depth from the freshmen.

“While we are returning most of our offense,” she said, “last year we did not have much depth in our offense. I am excited about the players returning, but I am anxious to see what some of our freshmen will be able to do for us in the attack. Adding different strengths to our team will give us more flexibility to what we will be able to do. I am counting on some of our freshmen to step up in the central midfielder role which would allow us play faster and more possession oriented.”

Junior Nora Osei (Springfield, Va./West Springfield) (9g) and sophomore Elisa Ott (Lancaster, Pa./Penn Manor) (4g) will be key cogs by the offensive net, while sophomore Asia Malcolm (Richmond, Va./John Randolph Tucker) and senior Erica Detweiler (Hickory, N.C./Fred T. Foard) will anchor the defensive line. Sophomore midfielder Morgan Hill (Martinsville, Va./Carlisle) returns as a stellar distributor after handing out six assists last fall.

Kolb expects Kendall Moyer (Fincastle, Va./James River) and Cayla Garner (Clear Spring, Md./Clear Spring) to lead the freshmen class.

“While I am expecting all of our freshmen to get playing time this year,” explained Kolb, “I am looking forward to seeing high performances from Kendall either in midfield or forward roles and Cayla in center midfield or defense.”

In anticipation of the new season starting at Marymount on Aug. 30, Kolb summed up her thoughts with one word.

“Ready,” she said. “I am ready to move past last year and move into this year. This year will be a different team with new expectations and abilities. I am optimistic as I have noticed the attitude of the returners and the energy from the freshmen. This change of perspective will be our number one strength going into the season. The second strength we have is increasing our talent overall and providing flexibility within the team to try players at different positions to see what will work to our talent and strength.”

The Lady Royals also get the honor of playing the first home game in front of EMU’s new 1,000-seat bleachers when they host Ferrum on Sept. 7.

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