NEWBURGH, N.Y. – On Wednesday afternoon, Director of Athletics Shane Bell announced the hiring of
Joe Dolan as the next head women's soccer coach at Mount Saint Mary College.
"Throughout the search process, it was evident that
Joe Dolan was the perfect fit to lead the Mount Saint Mary College women's soccer program. Since taking over as our interim head women's soccer coach in October, I've been impressed by his commitment to the program, his ability to bring student-athletes together, and his vision for the future of the program. The MSMC women's soccer program has a history of success and being among the best teams in the Skyline Conference, and with Coach Dolan as our leader, I know we will continue to build on that success, recruit excellent student-athletes, and make Mount Saint Mary College proud. GO KNIGHTS!"
Dolan has been the assistant coach of the Mount Saint Mary College men's soccer program since 2021 and was also the interim coach for the last eight games of the women's season this past year. His career with the Knights started all the way back in 2015 during his freshman year as a student-athlete. Dolan is one of the most highly regarded players in MSMC men's soccer history, winning Skyline Conference Offensive Player of the Year in 2017, making Skyline All-Conference First Team in 2016, 2017, and 2019, being named Skyline Conference Championship Most Outstanding Player in 2017, earning Third Team NSCAA All-East Region Honors in 2016, and United Soccer Coaches Second Team All-East Region in 2017.
"Extremely excited to be the women's soccer head coach!" said Dolan. "As a Mount Saint Mary College soccer alumni, I really want to see success in the program and am happy to be in a position to make an impact."
During his time as the interim head coach, the Knights went 2-3-1 with all three of their losses against Skyline playoff teams including this year's champions. Dolan helped coach two Skyline All-Conference players, sophomore forward
Grace Morra (First Team) and freshman defenseman
Kaelyn Greene (Second Team). Five members of the team were also named to the College Sports Communicators All-District Team;
Faith Welsh,
Maria Baldwin,
Darla Petricca,
Lily Tanko, and
Kaitlin Hansen. The Knights women's soccer program will be returning 15 players for the 2025 season.
Over the past eight seasons, women's soccer has made the Skyline Conference Playoffs seven times. They made the Skyline Conference Finals four times, including three in a row from 2016-2018, but were runners-up each time. They finished first in the regular season twice while placing second three times. This past season, the Knights ended their season in seventh place, just coming short of the six-team playoff.