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Matt Ogden
Matt Ogden enters his 10th season as head coach of the Capital University women’s soccer program in the fall of 2024. Before his hire on Feb. 23, 2015, he served as an assistant for the CU men’s soccer team during the 2013-14 seasons. Ogden also re-joined the men's program as an assistant coach in 2023 to assist interim head coach Frank Speth.
Under his leadership Capital has hosted a myriad of players that have earned postseason accolades. A total of 63 all-conference honors have been awarded to members of the Capital women’s soccer team. Additionally, 16 have been named to the NSCAA/USC all-region team, two have been named NSCAA/USC All-Americans and 21 have achieved All-Ohio status. Their classroom success has also been a source of pride for Ogden and the women’s soccer program. A total of 96 student-athletes have been named Academic All-OAC (3.5 GPA, or higher).
Capital's 2023 season was one that certainly tested the Comets at every game as Coach Ogden put his team up against some of the nation's best teams in the form of two nationally top-10 ranked opponents and several other regionally ranked opponents. That schedule allowed the Comets to enter the OAC postseason battle tested as the fourth seed. There, the Comets were unable to breakthrough the snowy conditions and were knocked out of the tournament on penalty kicks vs. Baldwin Wallace. At season's end, Lexi Snider and Sophia Leonetti highlighted seven All-OAC selections with their OAC Forward of the Year and OAC Midfielder of the Year awards.
The 2022 season was a banner year for the program as Ogden led his team to a 12-4-3 overall record that ended in an OAC Regular Season Championship and a trip to the NCAA Tournament. The team finished with an OAC record of 7-0-2 and earned their first OAC trophy since the 2015 season. At season's end, Avery Hart was named a second team All-American and Hart, Sophia Leonetti and Lexi Snider were honored as All-Region players. Eight student-athletes were selected All-Conference and Hart and Snider were named the OAC Forward and Defender of the Year, respectively. Ogden was also honored as the OAC Coach of the Year for his work guiding the team.
Coach2_Whitewater 2016 ad hocIn 2021, Capital started the year with a brutal non-conference schedule, making things tough, but Capital responded in force, going 7-1-1 in the OAC, while earning eight All-OAC selections and two All-Region honorees in Avery Hart and Olivia Rotolo. His team also put together eight shutouts on the year, spearheaded by All-OAC second team goalkeeper Lauren White.
Capital completed a historic season in Ogden's first year. Capital began the season with a 4-4 record that ended with a narrow, 3-2, overtime loss against Carnegie Mellon. The loss proved to be Capital's last regular season defeat as it swept conference play, finishing with an undefeated 9-0-0 conference record for the first time in school history.
In the 2015 Ohio Athletic Conference tournament, Capital won its match in overtime against Baldwin Wallace before beating Ohio Northern to take the OAC crown for the third time in as many years. Capital received the automatic bid for the NCAA Division III Women's Soccer tournament where it defeated Hanover College in the opening round for win number 15 on the season, marking the third straight 15-win year for the program.
Women's soccer continued to make history after the 2015 season when Mariah Richards (first team) and Maura Fortino (second team) were named NSCAA Scholar All-Americans. Their accomplishments marked the first time in program history that two All-Americans were named in the same season. Richards was also named OAC Defensive Player of the Year and NSCAA All-America in 2015.
Over the last three seasons (2017-19) Cap showed improvement with 10 or more wins in consecutive seasons and at least six OAC wins. CU has now won six or more conference games in each of the last nine years dating back to 2013. In 2018 and 2019, Capital has seen increases in overall wins with 27 wins and just 12 losses. Across his tenure, Capital has finished first or second in the OAC standings in all but three seasons but has made the OAC Tournament every year.
The trio of Allyssa Kimbler, Maggie Peddicord and Jordan Fike have been the spotlight of the program over the 2018 and 2019 seasons after being named First Team All-OAC in back-to-back seasons. All three also earned First Team All-Great Lakes Region by United Soccer Coaches and First Team All-Ohio as seniors in 2019. To top it off Kimbler, Peddicord and Fike got it done in the classroom after being named Third Team Scholar All-America by USC in December 2019. The 2019 season also featured Avery Hart, who was named OAC co-Freshman of the Year after tying for the team lead with 10 goals and adding four assists.
The 2017 team finished second in the OAC regular season standings and finished as runners-up in the OAC Tournament. Capital compiled an overall record of 10-8-1 and an OAC mark of 7-2. Alyssa Kimbler and Chloe Brown were each named First Team All-OAC and seven players earned conference honors. Brown and Kimbler were joined by Mary Bushee on OSCA Division III All-Ohio teams and Brown was named to the United Soccer Coaches Scholar All-Region Team.
Ogden, a native of Preston, England, brings with him a wealth of experience and success coaching women’s soccer and collegiate soccer, as well. Over the last decade, Ogden has been a mainstay in the Columbus area at the girls club and high school ranks and has guided his teams to championship play at the regional and national level.
In 2018, Ogden served the head coach for the girls U-18 Ohio Premier Soccer Club that qualified for the ECNL (Elite Club National League) national tournament, an accomplishment only the top eight teams in the country are afforded. In 2013, he served as an assistant for that year’s U-18 team which won the ECNL U-18 Girls National Championship.
With Ogden’s deep affiliation with the Ohio Premier Soccer Club, he has also overseen successes for those teams ranging from ages 11 to 19. In the same year he helped the U-18 club win the national title, he also served as head coach to the U-11 club team that was a USYSA state finalist. Altogether, he has won four state championships, two of those with Ohio Premier.
His women’s soccer coaching career began in 2003 at nearby Dublin Scioto High School. There, Ogden was named the varsity head coach and helped DSHS win the 2004 OCC league championship. That year, he was named the Ohio High School Central District and OCC Coach of the Year. Ogden began his collegiate coaching career at nearby Kenyon College as an assistant to the men’s soccer program in 2001.
Ogden is no stranger to Capital University after having spent two seasons (2013-14) as the assistant men’s soccer coach. In those two seasons, Capital combined for an overall record 19-17-4 and advanced to the Ohio Athletic Conference Men’s Soccer Tournament each season. In 2014, Capital was part of a major upset over nationally-ranked Ohio Wesleyan University (2-1), a team that eventually advanced to the NCAA Division III Final Four.
A forward by trade, Ogden played collegiately at the University of Rio Grande (NAIA). He started all four years and was a two-time all-region selection and named a First Team All-American in 1999. Ogden ended his career with the Red Storm as the single-season record holder for goals scored (33). In 2010, Ogden was inducted into the Rio Grande Athletic Hall of Fame for his individual career that led to three conference championships and four regional tournament appearances.
After graduating from Rio Grande with his bachelor’s degree in exercise science he pursued his dream to play soccer professionally. He succeeded in doing so after signing to play with the Kalamazoo Kingdom of the Premier Development League. He was drafted by the Indiana Blast of the United Soccer League’s A-League, a Major League Soccer (MLS) minor league affiliate program, in 2000 where he played for one season.
Ogden and his wife, Beth, reside in Plain City with their two children Nicole and Ethan. Nicole is a rising sophomore within the Capital program, while Ethan will be entering his first year on the men's soccer team at NCAA Division I institution Bowling Green State University.
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