Hood College

Frederick, MD 21701

Maryland Northeast

Private Small Developing team

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Coaches

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Molly Kovarik

Molly Kovarik was named the head coach at Hood College in December 2020.

The fall of 2023 had two players earn conference honors in honorable mention midfielder Alli House and Shannon Foster as a first team defender and the first player to land on first team since 2019.

In her second season, the Blazers returned to the MAC Commonwealth playoffs for the first time since 2019, hosting a first round contest. Hood placed five student-athletes on the All-MAC Commonwealth squad, including second team picks Priya Nair and Brenna Ellenberger.

Kovarik comes to Hood from Washington College, where she served as an assistant coach for the 2019 season. During her season with the Shorewomen, the team produced one All-Centennial Conference selection.

Prior to her time with Washington, she spent two years as an assistant coach with the Eastern (Pa.) University women's soccer program. The Eagles had five All-Middle Atlantic Conference Freedom performers and qualified for the MAC Freedom Championships in 2017.

Kovarik yielded a productive playing career at Marian University in Wisconsin, playing four years of both soccer and basketball. She earned Northern Athletic Collegiate Conference Honors in two seasons as a defender for the Sabres in soccer and held roles as a captain in both sports.

She holds a U.S. Soccer Federation Class F License.

Kovarik graduated from Marian in 2017 with a Bachelor of Science degree in forensic science while minoring in both chemistry and biology and completed her Master of Arts in organizational leadership from Eastern in 2019.

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Zach Jacobsen

Assistant Coach

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Rosie Weaver

Assistant Coach

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Geoff Moore

Geoff Moore was announced as the Blazers men’s soccer coach in January of 2024.

Moore, a former SUNY Division III head and assistant coach with a combined total of 204 wins.

From 2019-2023, Moore served as the head men's soccer coach at State University of New York, College at Morrisville. During his time, Moore accrued five NEAC All-Conference selections.

Before Morrisville, Moore joined Oneonta coaching staff prior to the 2008 season. Primarily responsible for recruiting, Moore has helped to build the Red Dragons into a nationally recognized program which has included three NCAA DIII Final Four appearances. In addition to recruiting, Moore is equally adept at coaching the goalkeepers, working on team tactics with the field players, or mentoring the younger student-athletes as they adapt to college life.

Prior to Oneonta, Moore served as the goalkeeper coach for one season at SUNY Delhi before taking over as head coach from 2004-2008. During that span he compiled a career record of 31-23-6, and ended the 2008 season with the 11th ranked team in the country courtesy of a 14-3-1 record.

In addition to achieving the best record in the program’s history, Moore’s four years at Delhi produced two NJCAA All-Americans, five NJCAA All-Region players, while he was twice voted Conference “Coach of the Year”.

Moore has served as the Director of Coaching for the Oneonta Soccer Club, as well as a stint as the head coach of Mohawk United of the NPSL. In 2007, Geoff received his NSCAA National coaching diploma.

Moore was born and raised in Oneonta, and graduated from Oneonta High School in 1996 where he earned two Daily Star first team nominations as a goalkeeper. He also represented the WNY ODP team.

Moore came to Morrisville from SUNY Oneonta where he served as a member of the coaching staff for 10 years. Responsible for recruiting, he was instrumental in assisting in building the Red Dragons into a nationally recognized program that included several appearances in the NCAA Division III Championship Tournament, along with three Final Four stints.

During his time with Oneonta, the squad collected five total State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) titles, along with seven straight appearances within the NCAA tournament.

Alongside recruiting, Moore was involved in all facets of the program in training on the field, working with both goalkeepers and field tactics, while assisting off the field in the oversight of academic progress of student-athletes, video review and travel arrangements.

His efforts with the Red Dragon staff didn’t go unnoticed as he was honored with the 2014 NSCAA Regional Assistant Coach of the Year award, as well as the SUNY Oneonta Athletic Department Assistant Coach of the Year honor after putting together a 21-1-2 slate on the field.

Moore served as head coach of the SUNY Delhi Broncos for four seasons before joining the Oneonta staff, where he was twice named the Mountain Valley Conference Coach of the Year. During his time on the Bronco sidelines his squad posted a collective 39-22-4 overall record.

The graduate of SUNY Delhi earned his United Soccer Coaches Association Regional Coaching Diploma in 2007, and the following year his National Coaching Diploma.

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Xavier Djiki

Xavier Djiki joined the Hood College men's soccer staff in the Spring of 2023.

Coach Xavier comes to Hood after spending a full year on the men's soccer coaching staff at D1 Howard University as a Player Development Coach in 2022.

Just before the season started, Xavier stepped in as the interim head coach in the fall of 2023 leading a very young Blazer Roster to their best conference record since 2018 with Freshmen & Sophomores equating 71% of the roster. The Blazers saw an increase in Goals Scored / Goals per game compared to the previous season and their biggest win margin since the 2021 season.

A 2020 graduate from York (Pa.) with a Bachelor of Science in supply chain & operations management, he helped lead the Spartans that received votes in the top 25 in 2018.

Coach Xavier currently holds a USSF D & C License and has had extensive experience as the assistant at then Olympiacos DC & now Arlington SA growing them to a National Powerhouse in the UPSL (fourth tier of US Soccer) with an overall record of 49 W 19 T 12 L.

At Howard University, he focused on individual player development, helping Bryson Baker finish as the second highest goal scorer at the program in the last decade.

He is currently the head coach of the SAC Pre-Academy Boys 2008 NAL and resides in Frederick,

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James Dempsey

James Dempsey joined the Hood College coaching staff in the summer of 2023.

Dempsey hails originally from Galway, Ireland and comes to Hood College after a successful playing and coaching career in Mississippi and Colorado. Dempsey made the move over to the United States in 2017 to play for Pearl River Community College men’s soccer program under head coach Drew Gallant. In 2017, Dempsey and the team won the Mississippi state championship and advanced to the national tournament. The following season Dempsey made the move to Belhaven University in Jackson, Mississippi under the leadership of head coach James Gledhill, a previous Temple University women's soccer coach. Dempsey went on to be a pivotal part of the Blazers’ attack, starting as a center forward for the three seasons that followed, helping the Blazers qualify for the American Southwest Conference playoffs three years in a row, posting winning records each year and ranking No. 25 in the nation in 2019.

Throughout Dempsey’s collegiate playing career, he also coached multiple Mississippi Rush soccer club youth teams while pursuing his degree in Sports management.

After graduating Dempsey made the move to Colorado Springs where he coached at Colorado Pride soccer club and was the head boys coach at Vista Ridge High School. Dempsey returned to Mississippi the following year to begin a master's degree in business administration from Belhaven University, where he joined the staff as a volunteer assistant coach. That same year, Dempsey became the assistant boys' soccer coach at Hartfield Academy, helping the program win their first Division 1 Mississippi state championship.