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Chris Lemay
Chris Lemay enters his seventh season as the head coach of the Utah Valley women’s soccer team.
Lemay has led the Wolverines to three NCAA Tournament appearances, an NCAA Tournament win, two WAC regular season championships, and two WAC Tournament titles. He has also guided UVU to five WAC Tournament championship match appearances. He earned WAC Coach of the Year honors in 2022 after leading his team to a WAC regular season championship and a first-ever at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. He is the only coach in UVU history in any sport to win an NCAA Tournament game.
His players have earned All-WAC honors 38 times, which have included 16 first-team selections. He has also had players earn WAC Offensive Player of the Year (Heather Stainbrook, 2022), WAC Defensive Player of the Year (Jenna Shepherd, 2021/2022), and WAC Freshman of the Year (Amber Tripp, Breanna Eves) honors. His players have been selected as All-Region honorees 12 times. He also has produced two United Soccer Coaches Scholar All-Americans (Heather Stainbrook and Jenna Shepherd) and one College Sports Communicators Academic All-America® selection (Heather Stainbrook).
In 2022, his Utah Valley squad finished the season with a 14-5-3 overall record and a 9-1-1 mark in WAC play. The 14 wins tied the all-time UVU record for wins in a season. Lemay's squad swept the WAC's major postseason honors as Heather Stainbrook was named WAC Player of the Year, Jenna Shepherd earned WAC Defensive Player of the Year honors, and Lemay was named WAC Coach of the Year. His team had seven players earn All-WAC honors, including five first team selections. Four of his players earned All-Region honors.
His 2022 team was one of the best offensive teams in the nation as the squad ranked third nationally in assists (59), ninth in goals (54), sixth in points (167), and 10th in scoring offense (2.45). The Wolverines broke numerous UVU single season records this season, including total assists (59), assists per game (2.68), and total shots (438).
The Wolverines played one of the toughest schedules in UVU history in 2022 with four nationally ranked teams on its slate. UVU came out of those four games with a 1-2-1 record, which included a 4-2 road win over then-13th ranked BYU and a 0-0 tie against then-No. 23 UCF.
Under his direction in 2021, Utah Valley made a third straight trip to the championship match of the WAC Tournament. The team finished the 2021 season with an impressive 13-7-2 overall record, including a 6-2-2 mark in WAC play. Lemay led the Wolverines to an 8-1-1 record at home. Eight Wolverines were named to the All-WAC team, including a school-record four first team honorees in Amber Tripp, Heather Stainbrook, Sadie Brockbank, and Jenna Shepherd. UVU's four first team All-WAC honorees in 2021 also earned All-Pacific Region honors--the most all-region honorees in team history.
Lemay's team enjoyed its most successful season in UVU history in 2020 with the team compiling a 13-5-4 record and finishing the season with the best end-of-season RPI rankings in UVU history (No. 66). Lemay has took the Wolverines from a No. 198 RPI ranking in 2017 to a No. 66 ranking this in 2020--the largest RPI jump in the nation in that time frame.
During the 2020 season, Lemay led Utah Valley to the first NCAA Tournament win in UVU Athletics history with its first-round 1-0 victory over No. 25 Memphis. Lemay’s team also won the program’s first-ever WAC regular season title and its third WAC Tournament championship. His team is the first program in UVU history to win both a WAC regular season title and a WAC Tournament championship. Lemay had numerous players earn individual honors as a team-record 10 Wolverines earned All-WAC honors with two players being named to the United Soccer Coaches All-Region team. For the first time in program history, UVU was ranked by TopDrawerSoccer.com and matched the program’s highest final regional top-10 ranking at No. 8.
Lemay holds an impressive 45-19-6 record in WAC play in his six seasons at UVU. He has registered double digit wins in five of his six seasons at UVU and owns a 64-52-13 overall record. He has led his team to a 36-9-6 record at home and owns one of the best attendance records in the country. He is taking his team on a second international trip to Costa Rica in May where the Wolverines will again play the Costa Rica National Team. His squad is the first team in UVU history to play against a full national team. Lemay's team also hosted the Argentina National Team at Clyde Field in 2019.
Lemay’s teams have been equally impressive in the classroom with his team earning the United Soccer Coaches Team Academic Award in each of his six seasons with the Wolverines. His team continues to hold one of the top team GPAs in the country with his players earning 77 Academic All-WAC honors. In 2020, Hannah Bruce earned the team’s first-ever Scholar All-Region honor and was named the WAC’s top female scholar student-athlete, earning the Stan Bates Award. She was also a conference-level nominee for NCAA Woman of the Year and was a finalist for a Rhodes Scholarship at Oxford. Stainbrook became the first-ever Utah Valley women's soccer player to earn the Academic All-America® honors.
He led the Wolverines to the championship match of the WAC Tournament in 2019, marking the sixth-straight time that UVU has advanced to the semifinals of the tournament and third time UVU has played in the championship match. Lemay’s 2019 team had the best RPI ranking in the WAC after playing one of the most difficult non-conference schedules in the nation. The Wolverines played three teams that finished with a top-15 or better national ranking during the 2019 season.
In 2019, Lemay led his team to an impressive 8-1-1 record at home. In his three years as head coach, Lemay holds a 16-6-1 mark at Clyde Field. In 2019, his team held the ninth-best attendance in the country, bringing in an average of 1,319 fans per game. UVU broke the school record for attendance in 2019 with 13,189 fans. The team also broke the single game attendance record at Clyde Field against BYU with a school-record 3,952 fans. The game was the 12th highest attended game of the season in the entire nation.
Under his direction in 2019, six Wolverines earned All-WAC honors, including Amber Tripp (first team), Breanna DeWaal (first team), Hannah Bruce (first team), Jenna Shepherd (second team), Jocelyn Bybee (all-freshman), and Heather Stainbrook (all-freshman). Tripp also earned United Soccer Coaches (USC) All-Pacific Region team honors.
Lemay had an impressive 14 players earn academic all-WAC honors in 2019, including Bruce who also earned all-district academic honors and USC Division I Women’s Scholar All-West Region honors. Bruce was a finalist for a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford and signed a professional contract with the Puerto Rico Sol.
Lemay led the Wolverines to the semifinals of the WAC Tournament in 2018. The team picked up three wins at home during WAC play, including one of the most memorable victories in the history of Clyde Field as UVU defeated Chicago State, 6-0, in front of a then school-record 3,211 fans at Clyde Field. In that same game, Sadie Brockbank became the first player in UVU history to score four goals in a single match. All three of UVU's home wins during WAC play were shutouts.
Lemay had three players earn awards in 2018 as both Bruce and Madeline Moore earned second team All-WAC selections and Brockbank earning WAC All-Tournament team honors.
Lemay led the Wolverines to a 10-12-1 overall record in his debut season, including an impressive 5-2-0 mark in WAC play in 2017. He also helped the Wolverines compile a 5-1-0 mark at Clyde Field during his first season with the team.
The success of his team during conference play in 2017 earned the squad the No. 2 seed and a first-round bye at the WAC Tournament in Phoenix, Arizona. The Wolverines shutout tournament host Grand Canyon, 1-0, before taking down defending champion Seattle U on penalty kicks, 3-1, to claim the 2017 WAC Tournament title and automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. UVU's Sydney Fitzpatrick, Breanna McCarter, Brooklyn Nielsen, and DeWaal were each named to the WAC All-Tournament team for their efforts at the championship. DeWaal was named the WAC Tournament MVP.
In Lemay's first season, six Wolverines received postseason WAC honors. Freshman forward Tripp was named the WAC's Freshman of the Year. DeWaal and Bruce received first team all-WAC honors, while McCarter, Tori Smith, and Libby Weber were named to the all-WAC second team. DeWaal was also named to the United Soccer Coaches All-West Region third team. Lemay also had 13 of his players earn Academic All-WAC honors in 2017.
Lemay served as the associate head coach at Cal from 2012-16. In his four seasons at Cal, Lemay helped the team to a 51-22-11 record with four NCAA Tournament appearances. His players received 14 All-Pac-12 honors during his time with the Bears.
Before joining the staff at Cal, Lemay spent one season as an assistant coach at San Diego State, during which the Aztecs won both the Mountain West regular season and conference tournament championships and went 21-2-1 with a No. 4 national ranking after being defeated in the NCAA round of 16. He was also the assistant coach at UC Riverside from 2003-2006, where he helped the team to a 45-20-14 overall record during his tenure and a 2005 NCAA tournament bid.
Aside from coaching at the collegiate level, Lemay spent time as an assistant coach for the Women's Premier Soccer League's San Diego Sea Lions and coached at the San Diego Surf Soccer club for 10 years. Lemay holds a USSF A License and is a FIFA certified Beach Soccer Coach.
Lemay was a four-year starter at Eastern Michigan from 1995-2000, where he graduated with a degree in communication and a minor in business management, before playing for the USISL semi-pro soccer club Michigan Madness.
Coach Lemay and his wife, Tami, have one son (Van), and three daughters (Olivia, Hannah and Eva).
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