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Kia McNeill
Kia McNeill is in her eighth season as the head women’s soccer coach at Brown University in 2023-24. She has led the Bears to back-to-back-to-back Ivy League Titles and NCAA Championship appearances in 2019, 2021, and 2022, marking the Bears’ first conference titles and NCAA appearances since 1994.
In 2022, McNeill and the Bears won their first NCAA Tournament game since 1994 with a 1-0 win at Rutgers. The season also included the program's third straight Ivy League Title after posting a 5-0-1 record in league action. Brittany Raphino and Kayla Duran were named First Team and Third Team All-Americans respectively, Raphino repeated as Ivy League Offensive Player of the Year and was named a MAC Hermann Trophy Semifinalst, and seven players in total received All-Ivy recognition.
McNeill – the two-time Ivy League Coach of the Year – led the Bears to their second straight Ivy League Title in 2021, a season that also saw the team finish with a 7-0 Ivy League record for the first time since the league expanded to eight teams in 1991. The campaign saw Brittany Raphino named a Second Team All-American and the Ivy Offensive Player of the Year, Kayla Duran named a CoSIDA Academic All-American and the Ivy Defensive Player of the Year, and seven players in total selected to the All-Ivy League teams.
In 2019, in addition to her Ivy Coach of the Year nod, McNeill was named New England Soccer Journal Coach of the Year, and the leader of the 2019 East Region Staff of the Year. She guided the Bears to a historic season in which the team earned its first Ivy League title and NCAA appearance since 1994. Brown set program records for wins in a season (14), home wins in a season (11), and shutouts in a season (13).
In 2019, the Bears posted an overall record of 14-2-3 alongside an undefeated 6-0-1 mark in Ivy League play, finishing the year unbeaten in conference play for the first time since 1994. Brown notched an 11-0-1 mark at home, including an 11-0-0 record during the regular season. The Bears advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament after topping Monmouth in a penalty kick shootout, 4-1.
During her third year with the team in 2018, the Bears concluded the season with 29 goals, marking their highest goal total since netting 37 goals in 2006. She coached five All-Ivy selections, including First Team All-Ivy honoree Abby Carchio ’20 and Ivy League Rookie of the Year Rebecca Rosen ’22. Carchio also garnered Third Team All-East Region and New England Midfielder of the Year accolades.
In 2017, McNeill guided Brown to an 11-5-0 overall record, giving the Bears their most wins since going 13-4-0 in 2000. Brown also set a single-season program record with four overtime victories. McNeill coached six All-Ivy selections, including First Team All-Ivy honoree Carchio ’20. She mentored CoSIDA First Team Academic All-America selection Katy Schmidt ’18 and a pair of Academic All-Ivy honorees in Schmidt and Maclaine Lehan ’18.
McNeill led Brown to a second-place finish in the Ivy League standings in 2016, marking its highest finish in the league table since winning the conference title in 1994. The Bears earned points in 14 of their 16 matches on the season and finished in the top half of the league standings in back-to-back years for the first time since 1993-94. Brown closed the year with its highest winning percentages both overall (.719) and in conference play (.714) since the year 2000.
She guided Christine Etzel ’19, the unanimous 2016 Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year, to a season in which the goalkeeper ranked second in the NCAA in save percentage (0.921), fourth in goals-against average (0.361) and 13th in shutouts (10) at the end of the regular season. McNeill also coached Carly Gould ’17 and Lehan to First Team All-Ivy honors.
A former assistant coach at Northeastern University and Boston College, where she was also a standout student-athlete, McNeill was named Brown’s head women’s soccer coach on December 30, 2015.
An assistant coach at Northeastern in the 2014 and 2015 seasons and at Boston College in 2009 and the 2011-13 seasons, McNeill helped those two programs make five NCAA tournament appearances in six seasons, including an Elite Eight and three Sweet 16 appearances at BC.
McNeill became the third head coach in the 41-year history of the Brown women’s soccer program and took over from Phil Pincince, who retired from coaching at the end of the 2015 season after leading the Bears for 39 years.
At Northeastern, McNeill helped lead the Huskies to their most successful season in program history in 2014 as the team won the Colonial Athletic Association regular season and tournament titles before advancing to the second round of the NCAA Championship. In the classroom, the team posted the highest cumulative GPA in NU’s athletic department.
While an assistant at Boston College, the team achieved a national ranking of No. 7, and McNeill coached five NSCAA All-Americans, including three-time Hermann Trophy semifinalist Kristie Mewis. Off the field, she organized the most successful charitable fundraiser in team history in support of ALS research.
McNeill played professional women’s soccer for six seasons (2008-14) both internationally and in the United States. She played a season in both Sweden and Russia and four seasons in the Women’s Professional Soccer League and the National Women’s Soccer League in the US. She was the No. 9 pick in the inaugural WPS draft in 2009 and finished her career with the Boston Breakers of the NWSL in 2013-14.
She has also coached with US Women’s Soccer Region I and was the Director of Girls Programs at Valeo Futbol Club in Newton, Mass.
As a collegiate student-athlete, McNeill played at BC from 2004-07, earning Big East Rookie of the Year accolades in 2004 and Third Team All-America honors as a senior. She made four straight appearances in the NCAA tournament, advancing as far as the Sweet 16, and garnered the ACC’s prestigious post-graduate scholarship, the James-Weaver-Corrigan Award.
A native of Avon, Conn., McNeill was the National Gatorade Player of the Year in 2004 and a two-time NSCAA High School All-American at Avon High School. She earned a bachelor’s degree in human development from Boston College in 2008 and an MBA in general management from BC in 2015.
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