Elmhurst College

Elmhurst College Athletics
190 Prospect Ave Elmhurst, IL 60126

Division 3 Illinois Midwest

Private Small National competitor

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Coaches

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Susie McCreery Foster

Susie Foster was named the head women's soccer coach for Elmhurst University on January 18, 2023.

Foster has established nationally and regionally recognized programs during her career, leading four teams to NCAA Division III National Tournament appearances and eight conference postseason appearances. Foster won two Midwest Conference Tournament championships and one Midwest Conference championship, and has reached as high as 20th nationally and fifth in regional rankings.

Under her leadership, 71 student-athletes have garnered All-Conference selections, as well as 10 National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) All-Region honors, a pair of Conference Player of the Year awards, and one NSCAA All-American.

Foster comes to Elmhurst following 11 seasons as the head coach at Carroll University. Since 2011, Foster led the Pioneers to a 118-65-26 record and made two appearances in the NCAA tournament. Her most successful season came in 2015, where her team earned a 15-5-1 record, an NCAA tournament appearance, and Foster was named the 2015 Midwest Conference Coach of the Year. At Carroll, Foster coached defender Sarah Mahoney to the school's first ever NSCAA All-American selection, and Mahoney was named the 2015 Midwest Conference Defensive Player of the Year in 2015.

In addition to her coaching duties, Foster was the Senior Woman Administrator and Assistant Director of Student Success for the Pioneers.

Prior to her time at Carroll, Foster spent eight years at Carthage College as an assistant coach (2003-2004) and head coach (2005-2011). As head coach, Foster led the Firebirds to a 68-41-9 overall record, coaching 24 CCIW All-Conference selections in her time in Kenosha.

Foster was also a standout student-athlete at Northwestern University, where she holds the Wildcat career record for lowest goals against average. A two-time Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week, Foster was also a CoSIDA Academic All-American and served as president of Northwestern's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC). She also was the Wildcats' student-athlete representative on the Big Ten committee.

Foster lives in Mundelein, Ill., with her two children—her daughter, Rylan, and son, Trey. She will begin her duties as head women's soccer coach immediately, and a formal introduction of Coach Foster to the Elmhurst community will be announced at a later date.

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Cesar Gomez

Cesar Gomez joined the Bluejays women's soccer staff in April 2023.

Gomez served as an assistant coach at Wheaton College from 2002-2022 with a one season stint as interim head coach in 2021.

He was the assistant coach under former Wheaton head coach Pete Felske for 18 seasons. Gomez was on staff for the 2004, 2006 and 2007 Division III Championship teams for the Thunder. He also helped Wheaton make 16 NCAA tournament appearances, won 13 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin regular season championships and 12 CCIW tournament championships.

In those 16 NCAA tournament appearances, Gomez and the rest of the Thunder staff made six final four appearances and appeared in five title games.

As the interim head coach, he won both the regular season and the conference tournament earning an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. During the 2021 season, Gomez also earned CCIW Coach of the Year honors.

The Paraguay native played soccer in the Paraguayan National League with 1ro Marzo, (Guazu Cora Villeta), 29 de Septiembre (Guarambare`) and Club General Caballero (San Pedro De Ycuamandyyu`). He also coached at Wheaton North High School from 1990-98 and has spent 18 years coaching the girls soccer team at West Chicago High School, serving as the head coach since 2006.

He and his wife Lisa have two adult children, Julio and Lena, and two grandchildren, AnnaLisa and Juliana.