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Gettysburg College

Gettysburg College Athletics
Box 400 - 300 North Washington St Gettysburg, PA 17325
Division 3 Pennsylvania Northeast
Private Small Developing team

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Mark Mettrick

Mettrick begins his 10th season as head men's soccer coach at Gettysburg in 2023.


His 2021 Bullets' squad posted its best mark in Mettrick's first eight at the helm, recording an overall record of 13-6-2 and advancing to the Centennial Conference (CC) championship game and earning and at-large bid to the NCAA Division III tournament after missing the entire 2020 season due to the pandemic. Six players earned all-conference honors at season's end, including two first-team nods.


The 2022 season saw another conference tournament appearance – the fifth straight for the program – and another six all-conference selections that included the Rookie of the Year in Athi Msiza. The season also brought the team’s first top-25 coaches’ association national ranking since 2015.


Gettysburg made a run to the CC semifinals in 2019 and qualified for the NCAA Division III tournament for the first time in 18 years. The Bullets opened the NCAA playoffs by shutting out the nation’s second-best offense, Oglethorpe University, 5-0. The team spent six weeks ranked among the top-10 teams in the Mid-Atlantic Region. Five Bullets were tabbed all-conference, while three earned regional accolades, marking the program’s most all-region honorees since 2007.


In 2017, the team went 13-5, marking its best win total in 16 years, and qualified for the CC playoffs for the first time in seven years. Mettrick coached five all-conference performers, including CC Player of the Year Patrick Santini ’18, who finished fifth in the country in scoring with 20 goals. Santini became the program’s first All-American in 19 years when he was named United States Coaches First Team and D3Soccer.com Second Team.


In Mettrick’s nine seasons at the helm, Gettysburg has logged a record of 83-47-14. The Bullets have won at least nine matches in all but one campaign. In 2016, the team went 9-4-3 and posted its first unbeaten record (5-0-3) at home since 1999. In the fall of 2015, Mettrick led the Bullets to an outstanding start as the team cracked the national rankings for the first time in nine years. The team posted a double-digit win total for the first time since 2007 with a 10-5-1 overall record.


In his first season at the helm of the Bullets in 2014, Mettrick directed to the Orange and Blue to six more wins than their total from one year earlier, tying the best single-season turnaround in program history. Gettysburg finished the year 9-7-1 and was ranked as high as fourth in the region.


In addition to coaching the first All-American at Gettysburg in nearly two decades, Mettrick has coached 12 all-region selections, 34 All-Centennial Conference honorees, and two CC Rookies of the Year. He mentored six all-conference picks in 2016, the most for the program since 2002.


PRIOR TO GETTYSBURG


Before coming to Gettysburg, Mettrick completed a highly-successful 14-year stint as head coach at Loyola University in Baltimore. He posted a record of 166-84-25 (.649) and guided the Greyhounds to five NCAA Division I Tournament appearances, advancing as far as the Round of 16 in 2001. A native of Manchester, England, Mettrick also coached Loyola to eight Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) regular-season titles and four MAAC tournament titles. A five-time MAAC Coach of the Year, he also captured two NCAA Division I Regional Coach the Year awards (2001, 2008) and was a two-time National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) Coach of the Year finalist.


Also at Loyola, Mettrick coached two All-Americans, two Major League Soccer draft picks, and three Lowe’s Senior CLASS finalists. He also guided 49 all-conference selections, six MAAC Players of the Year, three MAAC Goalkeepers of the Year, and two MAAC Rookies of the Year. He also helped his program build a reputation of academic success, and the men’s soccer team finished with the highest grade-point average (3.411) of all men’s teams at Loyola in the fall of 2013. His student-athletes have also earned five NSCAA Team Academic Awards and three Academic All-America honors.


Prior to arriving at Loyola, Mettrick served as the head coach at Division I Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, Md. from 1994-99. He guided the Mount to a record of 57-42-12 to go with a pair of Northeast Conference (NEC) titles and was twice named the NEC Coach of the Year. For his career, Mettrick owns a record of 284-163-44 (.623).


OTHER EXPERIENCES


In addition to his coaching duties, Mettrick has run the highly-successful Mark Mettrick Professional Soccer Schools in the summer months throughout the state of Maryland.


PLAYING DAYS


Mettrick played for Manchester United (English Premier League) as a youth and progressed as far as their reserve team before leaving for the States.


A 1988 graduate of Hartwick College in Oneonta, N.Y., Mettrick earned his Bachelor of Science degree in physics and was a two-time Division I All-American First Team selection for the Hawks. He is currently tied for fourth in school history in career goals (46) and is tied for fifth in career points (109).


After graduation, Mettrick was a first-round draft pick by the Cleveland Force of the Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL). As a midfielder, he would go on to enjoy a solid four-year career with the MISL’s Baltimore Blast, earning All-Star accolades in 1992 and twice helping the Blast reach the MISL championship game. He served as assistant men’s soccer coach at Mount St. Mary’s in 1993 before taking over as head coach the following season.


FAMILY LIFE


Mettrick and his wife, Jennifer, are the parents of a son, Matthew, and a daughter, Haley.

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Liam Behrens

Behrens returned to the Gettysburg staff in 2022 after spending the 2021 season as an assistant at McDaniel. He previously served on the Bullets' staff as an assistant from 2015-19.

A 25-year veteran coach at the college ranks, he started his career at his alma mater before moving to Guilford. He spent two seasons as an assistant coach before he was elevated to head coach prior to the 1997 season. In his 10 years as the head man with the Quakers, he coached 11 different players to 19 all-conference honors and guided five all-region players to go with one All-American. He was also an assistant coach at York (Pa.) from 2009-14.


While a player at Virginia Commonwealth, Behrens was an all-conference, all-state and all-region player as a junior and senior and two-time team MVP. He ranks second all-time in assists at VCU and is a member of the Rams' Soccer Hall of Fame.


Following his collegiate playing days, he played professionally from 1988-2007. He played indoor for the Hershey Impact, Wichita Wings, and Richmond Kickers while playing outdoor for the Richmond Kickers, Carolina Dynamo, and Baton Rouge Capitals. He has also coached numerous U14 and U17 clubs and holds his Class C Coaching License.


He competed against Mettrick, a Hartwick College graduate, in the 1988 Senior Bowl. He is currently tied for second all-time at VCU in career assists.


He recently retired from 31-year career with the YMCA, including more than 20 years at the executive level.


Behrens graduated magna cum laude from VCU in 1988 with a bachelor of science in rehabilitation services.

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