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Ross Liberati
Ross Liberati enters his fifth season as the head coach of the Widener men's soccer team in 2023. He brought nearly a decade of collegiate coaching experience, including work at the Division I level, to the Pride.
In his first year, Liberati mentored a major shift in the culture of the men's soccer program that led to 11 wins, the highest total for the team since 2014. Widener also competed in its first postseason tournament in five years, advancing to the semifinals of the ECAC Division III Championship. For his efforts on the field, Nick Brison was named MAC Commonwealth Second Team, the first All-Conference performer for the Blue and Gold since 2015.
Off the pitch, Liberati has also contributed to the Pride, starting the Widener Athletic Leadership Initiative (WALI), a program that is designed to grow and nourish the leadership abilities within student-athletes that can be taken back to their teams as well as enhance their leadership abilities post-graduation. In its first year, WALI student-athletes attended leadership training at the United States Naval Academy, met with coaches and campus leaders to gain a perspective on how they can become better members of the community, and presented an online panel entitled “Prideful Ownership” on how being a campus leader at Widener influences ownership of actions.
Priot to joining Widener, Liberati spent three seasons as the top assistant at Bucknell where he was responsible for scouting, recruiting, and film sessions. The Bison posted 20 wins during his time, qualifying for the Patriot League Tournament twice, advancing to the semifinals in 2016. While at Bucknell, Liberati helped mentor three All-Region and seven All-Conference performers, also seeing seven student-athletes garner Patriot League All-Academic Team honors.
Prior to Bucknell, Liberati worked at Washington & Lee University where he helped guide the 2015 Generals to the only undefeated regular season in ODAC history, the school’s first conference championship, and W&L’s first berth in the NCAA tournament in 15 seasons. Overall, Washington & Lee posted a 37-12-9 record during his tenure. With the Generals, Liberati was primarily responsible for the defense, with four of his backs and goalkeepers earning All-Region accolades as Washington & Lee held opponents to 0.80 goals per game during the 58-match span.
Liberati opened his coaching career at Frostburg State where he led film sessions, created scouting reports, and was responsible for the academic advising and study hall efforts of the Bob Cats.
On the national level, Liberati was selected for the United Soccer Coaches Top 30 Under 30 Award. He holds USSF Class, D, E, and F licenses, and earned his National Diploma, National Youth Diploma, Advanced National Diploma, and Premier Diploma with highest distinction.
As a player, Liberati was a two-time All-Region honoree, leading Bucknell to Patriot League Championships in 2009 and 2010.
The Warwick, Md. native earned his B.S. in Business Administration from Bucknell in 2011 and his MBA from Frostburg State in 2013.
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