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Florida Southern College

Lakeland, FL 338015698
Florida Southeast
Private Small Developing team
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Gerry Lucey

Gerry Lucey was hired as the sixth head coach of Florida Southern College women’s soccer in May 2023. Lucey brought 23 years of college coaching experience, including 12 years as a head coach. Most recently, Lucey was the associate head coach at Hofstra University since 2019, after spending a year as the head coach at Dixie State University in 2018. The trip to Hofstra was his second stint with the program after spending 2017 as the assistant coach.


Before his time at Hofstra, Lucey was a Hall of Fame head coach at the University of Tampa, winning the 2007 NCAA Division II National Championship. Lucey holds the most wins in program history at Tampa with 114 wins. He has 15 NCAA tournament berths on his resume, 10 conference tournament titles, and nine regular season titles. The Dublin, Ireland native has eight Coaching Staff of the Year awards, including the SSC Coach of the Year and three CAA Coaching Staff of the Year honors.


After returning to Hofstra in 2019, Lucey assisted the Pride in capturing its third-straight Colonial Athletic Association crown before advancing to the NCAA Second Round. Under Lucey's guidance, a dozen Pride players received All-CAA Recognition including top CAA honors such as Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year. Many went on to earn All-Region distinctions by the United Soccer Coaches, and three were eventually tabbed USC All-Americans.


In his one season at Dixie State, a Division II school that will transition to Division I in 2020, Lucey led his team to a 13-6 record and set a school mark with 11 shutouts. The Trailblazers finished fourth in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference and placed six players on the All-RMAC team including the conference freshman of the year. Dixie State was ranked sixth in the final NCAA South Central Region Poll.


Lucey, the all-time leader in assists as a player at LIU Post, has head coaching experience with three other Division II programs (LIU Post, West Chester, and Tampa), posting a 166-54-19 record in his 11 seasons as a head coach. He boasts an NCAA Division II National Championship, 8 NCAA Tournament appearances, 3 NCAA regional Championships, 4 regular-season conference championships, and 5 conference tournament championships. In his career, Lucey has coached 10 United Soccer Coaches All-Americans, 53 All-Region Selections, and 86 all-conference selections. His teams have finished with a Top 25 ranking 9 times, including one No. 1 ranking.


After spending 2004 to 2006 as an assistant coach at Tampa, Lucey took the helm from 2007 to 2015, leading the Spartans to six NCAA Division II Tournament appearances, including a national championship in his first season. Under Lucey's tutelage, the Spartans were Sunshine State Conference champions in 2007, 2010, 2011, and 2012, advancing to the NCAA Elite Eight in 2010.


Collegiately, Lucey played for Post from 1991-93, becoming the team's all-time leading scorer, a record later broken in 2013. Lucey, however, still holds the record for single season assists with 20. He was named an NSCAA All-American in 1993 after earning All-Region nods from 1990-92. Lucey spent the 1990 season at NYIT, earning NYCAC Rookie of the Year, before transferring to Post.


Outside of collegiate play, Lucey played semi-professionally for the New York Greek American Atlas (1992-97) and professionally for the New Jersey Imperials of the United States International Soccer League (1995-97), earning USISL All-Star recognition in 1996. He spent 1997 with the New York/New Jersey MetroStars of the MLS before spending 1998 to 2001 with the Long Island Rough Riders, becoming an A-League All-Star in 2000.


Lucey received his bachelor's degree in business management in 1994 and a master's in international marketing in 2001, both from Long Island University - CW Post.

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Grace Linton

Grace Linton joined the Florida Southern women's soccer staff in the summer of 2023 as an assistant coach under Gerry Lucey.


Linton moved to Lakeland after having a stellar season in the Premier Arena Soccer League for the ICT Aztecs. In their first year as a program, the team went 5-2-1 and received a bid to the National tournament in Louisville, Kentucky where they finished in the top 4. Linton was named to the Premier Arena Soccer League All-Nationals Third Team as a defender. She was invited to the American Association of Soccer 567 ID camp representing the USA Women's indoor team. Linton also played two years in the United Women’s Soccer League for FC Wichita. A captain for her team, she started and played every minute of the 14 games she played in as a center back.


Prior to her time in professional soccer, Linton spent two years as a graduate assistant coach with the Newman Women's Soccer program. While with the Jets, Linton assisted with all facets of the Jet program, including game and practice preparation and team and individual training. She joined the soccer coaching staff after playing two seasons with Emporia State and her final two seasons at Newman University.


In her career at Newman University, Linton was a key attacking player for the Jets. She appeared in 30 games, starting 29 of them. She scored 24 goals, 6 assists, 54 points, 95 shots, and 51 shots on goal. She earned four Player of the Week honors in her career at Newman. Linton also received All-Heartland Conference second team in 2017, All-Heartland Conference First Team in 2018 as well as Heartland Conference Offensive Player of the Year in 2018.


Before Linton came to Newman, she started her career at Emporia State University. She played in 18 games and started in 14 of those games for the Hornets. She had 11 goals, one assist, 23 points, 47 shots, and 18 shots on goal. She also attained Player of the Week honors as well as earned third-team all-conference honors in the MIAA her freshman year.


In her career at Trinity Academy High School, she scored 66 goals in two years, along with 15 assists. She was a two-time First-Team All-State player and earned 4A Player of the Year her junior year.


Linton also has coaching experience as she coached a youth soccer team for the Kansas Rush and was an assistant coach for Trinity Academy High School.


A native of Wichita, Kansas, Linton graduated with a master's in Business Administration and a bachelor's degree in Sports Communication, both from Newman University.

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Ashley Holmes

Ashley Holmes became the Head Coach at Florida Southern in April 2020, after spending six seasons as an assistant coach at his alma mater. After serving as an assistant under former head coach Ryan Sniegoski in 2013, and from 2015-16, Holmes remained on the staff when Jason Carlson arrived in 2017 and has now been a part of the men’s soccer program at Florida Southern for all but one of the last 12 years.


After the 2020 season was cut due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Holmes had his first year of competition in the 2021 season. Despite a full schedule of difficult competition in a powerhouse conference, the Mocs had six wins in Holmes' first year at the helm. An 8-0 rout of Eckerd on Senior Night highlighted the year as they Mocs nearly upset three nationally-ranked opponents during the regular season. Holmes and the Mocs finished fifth in the SSC to make it to the SSC Quarterfinals, where their season ended.


During the 2021 season, Holmes coached three that would make it to the All-SSC Team with James Meehan and Edu Capote selected to the second team and Christoph Gums an Honorable Mention. Meehan went on to be named to the MLS Superdraft 2022 Eligible Players List.


One of the most decorated players in team history, Holmes spent five seasons with the Moccasins as a student-athlete from 2008-12, which included a medical redshirt year in 2009. During that time, he started all 54 games in which he played and was a 3-time First Team All-Sunshine State Conference defender. He is one of only three players in team history to make the All-SSC Team three times, was an NSCAA All-South Region selection in 2010, and was twice selected as the Mocs' Most Valuable Player (2010 and 2012). Well-known for his abilities as a center-back, Holmes also ranks among the highest-scoring defenders to ever play for the Moccasins. He totaled 11 goals and 23 points in his career and was their second-leading scorer as a redshirt junior in 2011 with six goals.


Holmes has the distinction of being the only Moccasin to serve as a team captain for four years. He was elected to that role as a sophomore in 2009, the year in which he redshirted, and continued to hold that title throughout the remainder of his career. He was also a leader in the classroom at Florida Southern, winning two NCAA Academic Achievement Awards, earning Academic All-Region honors in 2011, and a spot on the SSC Commissioner's Honor Roll in all five years on the roster, including his final season when he played as a graduate student.


In addition to his duties at Florida Southern, Holmes is also a member of the Auburndale Scream coaching staff where he holds the title of Director of Coaching. He was the head coach for the U18 Boys team during the 2015-16 season.

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Pablo Gallo Arias

Joining the coaching staff in 2019 is recent Florida Southern graduate Pablo Gallo Arias, a four-year letterman for the Moccasins from 2015-18. As a midfielder and defender for the Mocs, Arias played in 49 games with 24 starts, and totaled three goals and six assists in his career.


Arias’ best season came as a senior in 2018 when he finished third on the team in scoring with 10 points while tying for second on the team with four assists. He started 12 of the Mocs’ 17 games during a 12-5 season that saw them nationally ranked for the first time in eight years and reach as high as number two in the regional rankings. The 12 wins were only one shy of the school record.


Arias originally came to Florida Southern from Redmond, Washington, but was born and raised in Colombia before moving to the United States. He graduated from Florida Southern in the spring of 2019 with a degree in sports management. He was the Florida Southern Athletic Director’s Scholar-Athlete Award winner for men’s soccer, an award he shared with Georg Michajlov.

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