Email coach
Steve Weaver
After five years as the Scarlet Raptors’ head women’s soccer coach, Steve Weaver is stepping back into an assistant role in 2022 to ease his busy schedule and family commitments.
Weaver’s 2022 season will mark his sixth year with a program that he built into one of the contending teams in the rugged New Jersey Athletic Conference. During his last four seasons, the Scarlet Raptors reached the NJAC playoffs, marking the first time in program history that Rutgers-Camden qualified for four consecutive conference post-season berths. During the 2020 season, played in the 2021 spring semester due to the pandemic-altered schedule, the Scarlet Raptors earned the NJAC’s top playoff seed for the first time ever and made their first appearance in the conference title game. They posted shutouts in all their regular-season games, on the way to a 4-0-1 record, marking the first time they ever blanked five straight NJAC opponents. They beat Ramapo in the NJAC semifinals (3-1) before losing the title game 1-0 against Montclair State to finish with a 5-1-1 record.
During his five seasons, Weaver upgraded the Scarlet Raptors’ schedule to face many national powers, while coaching 22 All-NJAC players. Breana Winder earned NJAC Rookie of the Year honors in 2018 and finished her career with back-to-back NJAC First Team honors. Meghan Wachira was the Co-NJAC Rookie of the Year in 2017 and a NJAC First Team performer in 2018.
Weaver nearly took the team to an elusive post-season spot in his first year. Inheriting a 4-10-2 program, Weaver led the 2017 Scarlet Raptors to a 7-9 mark, their most wins since going 8-10-2 in 2008. They came within a whisker of ending their NJAC playoff drought, losing a 1-0 game on the last day of the season at Stockton University. A win or a tie would have earned them a NJAC playoff berth.
After barely missing the conference playoffs that season, Weaver led the Scarlet Raptors to a 5-2-2 NJAC record in 2018 as the team qualified for both the NJAC and ECAC playoffs for the first time since 2007. His guidance was rewarded when he became the first Scarlet Raptor women’s coach to be named the NJAC Coach of the Year. He tacked on honors as the Rutgers-Camden Coach of the Year for the 2018-19 scholastic year.
Weaver’s 2018 team posted a 5-2-2 record in NJAC competition, marking the most NJAC wins since the 2005 team went 5-4 in conference play. The 5-2-2 record tied the program’s best NJAC record overall at that time, matching a similar 5-2-2 mark in 2003. Both marks were passed by the 4-0-1 squad during the 2021 spring semester.
Although the 2018 team finished with an 8-9-2 overall record after a pair of post-season losses, the Scarlet Raptors qualified for both the NJAC and ECAC playoffs for the first time since 2007. Their regular-season record of 8-7-2 marked the team’s first regular-season winning record since 2007.
Weaver posted a 19-18-4 regular-season NJAC record during his five seasons as the Scarlet Raptors’ head coach, marking the best five-year conference mark in program history. In addition to his success on the soccer pitch, Weaver’s athletes were equally impressive in the classroom. In his five years, he coached 59 All-NJAC Academic players. One of those players, Winder, also represented Rutgers-Camden as the NJAIAW Woman of the Year during the 2021-22 scholastic year.
During the 2019 season, Weaver led the Scarlet Raptors into the NJAC playoffs for the second straight year, marking the first time the Scarlet Raptors reached back-to-back NJAC playoffs since 2004-2005.
Weaver was named as the sixth head coach in program history in April of 2017. The former Neumann University soccer star quickly went about upgrading the Raptors with his knowledge, experience, enthusiasm, recruiting ability and a non-stop desire to mold the team into an elite program in the powerful NJAC.
Weaver, who owns a National “A” coaching license from the USSF, has coached men’s and women’s teams on a variety of levels. He came to Rutgers-Camden after serving as an assistant men’s coach in 2016 at Ursinus College. He has served as the head coach of the Continental Football Club’s U18 ECNL program and has coached numerous teams with the Penn Fusion Soccer Academy (U18, U14 and U12 girls and the U15, U12 and U11 boys) from 2012-2016. He also was an assistant men’s coach at his alma mater, Neumann University, from 2009-2014, helping the Knights capture the Colonial States Athletic Conference championship in 2010, 2011 and 2014. In 2011, Neumann stunned perennial powerhouse Messiah College in the NCAA tournament to advance to the Sweet 16.
Weaver was involved in scouting, recruiting, on-field training, budgeting and academic monitoring at both Neumann University and Ursinus College.
A graduate of Neumann University in 2002, Weaver received his Bachelor of Science degree in Sport Management. He also was a star soccer player for the Knights, serving as the team captain for three years and earning three All-Colonial States Athletic Conference Second Team honors.
Weaver received his Master of Arts in Elementary Education in 2007 from Drexel University.
Weaver and his family live in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania. He teaches sixth-grade English in Wilmington, Delaware, in the Brandywine School District.
show more