Coaches

Bob Casper

Bob Casper enters his third season at the helm of the Northern State soccer program in the fall of 2023. Casper joined the NSU program after eight seasons at the University of Wyoming.


In the fall of 2022, Northern went 9-5-5 overall and 7-3-5- in the Northern Sun, qualifying for the NSIC Tournament with a fifth place finish. The Wolves tallied their most NSIC nods in a single season with five honorees including Hannah Smith (NSIC Freshman of the Year, first team), Lilja Davidsdottir (first team), Megan Fastenau (second team), Alexus Townsend (second team), and Mia Zagorski (second team). In addition, Davidsdottir and Smith garnered CSC Academic All-District® honors.


In his first season with the Wolves, Casper led the team to an eighth place finish in the NSIC, qualifying for the league tournament for the first time since 2016. Northern went 7-6-5 overall and 6-4-5 in the Northern Sun. In addition, the Wolves tallied the first NCAA Regional Ranking in program history and landed two on the NSIC All-Conference teams; Lilja Davidsdottir (first team) and Megan Fastenau (second team).


Casper joined the Cowgirl staff in June of 2013 as an assistant coach and was promoted to the associate head coach position for his final five seasons. Wyoming went 69-62-22 in his seasons on staff. In addition, 17 Cowgirls garnered postseason honors including one Offensive Player of the Year, one Defensive Player of the Year, one Freshman of the Year, five First Team All-Conference, one Second Team All-Conference, two Honorable Mention All-Conference, four Mountain West All-Newcomer selections, three Mountain West All-Tournament Team honorees, two Third Team All-Pacific Region, and three Capitol One Academic All-District VII First Team selections.


The Cowgirls made history in 2016, posting their third-straight season with at least ten wins for the first time in program history. In 2018, Wyoming won a share of the Mountain West Title; the first conference title in UW soccer history. The 12 wins tied the most in program history and the seven league wins was second most in school history.


Three former UW student-athletes are playing professionally in Australia and the United States. His team’s also found success in the classroom, earning eight United Soccer Coaches Team Academic Awards.


Prior to his time in Laramie, Casper was the head men’s soccer coach at Ottawa University. In his six seasons at OU, Casper coached 30 All-KCAC selections, 12 KCAC Scholar Athletes, one KCAC Goalkeeper of the Year, one KCAK Freshman of the Year, one Region IV selection and three Daktronics NAIA Scholar Athletes.


Casper opened his collegiate coaching career as an assistant at Bemidji State University. BSU won 22 games in his two seasons on staff after going 5-13-1 the season before. He then moved on to Barton County Community College where he coached the women's team to a fifth-place finish in the Jayhawk Conference.


Casper earned a bachelor of science in Social Sciences with an emphasis in History from the University of Wisconsin-Platteville in 2003 and a master's degree in Sports Studies from Bemidji State in 2012. He was a 4-year soccer letter winner at UW-P and was involved in the Pioneer Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (PSAAC).


He has an NSCAA Regional Diploma/NSCAA State Goalkeeping Diploma (Level I), an NSCAA Advance National Diploma, NSCAA Premier Diploma and a USSF "C" License.


Casper and his wife, Kerry, have two daughters, Ellis and Kendall.

Courteney Shovlin

Courteney Shovlin enters her first academic year with the Northern State University soccer program in the Fall of 2023. She joins the Wolves after serving as an assistant coach at both Laramie County Community College and Central High School in Cheyenne, Wyoming.


Shovlin spent the last year of her career in Wyoming working with the Laramie County CC men’s soccer program and Central High School boys’ program. She opened her collegiate coaching career as a graduate assistant at Bluefield State College. The Big Blue reached the Small College National Championship in their inaugural season.


From October 2020 to June 2021, Shovlin played professionally in Italy with the Formello Calcio Cross Roads and coaches youth soccer for the U.S. Ladispoli Academy. She played collegiately at Montana State University Billings, earned GNAC All-Conference honorable mention accolades in 2019. Shovlin was a 4-year starter for the Yellowjackets, accumulating 5,214 career minutes as a defender.


Shovlin earned her Bachelor of Arts in history from MSU Billings in 2020 and Master of Science in Sports Management and Coaching from the Soccer Management Institute in 2021. In addition, she is pursuing a Master of Science in Library and Information Science from Wayne State University.


Shovlin holds several certifications and is in the process of securing her D License from the United States Soccer Federation. In addition, she was awarded special diplomas by the United Soccer Coaches in Level 1 Performance Analysis and Goalkeeper Performance Analysis.

No Men's Soccer Program