- In his 21 seasons as head coach, Dave Nolan has guided the Georgetown women’s soccer program to be one of the top teams in the country.
- Nolan is in his 22nd season at the helm of the Hoyas boasting 284 career wins, including 18-straight seasons with at least 10 wins.
- Nolan has led the team to 13-straight NCAA Tournament appearances, 14 in the last 15 years and two College Cup Semifinal appearances (2016 & 2018).
- Under Nolan’s tutelage, the Hoyas have earned 23 All-America honors, garnered 27 BIG EAST Player of the Year awards and had a player named a MAC Hermann Semifinalist in eight of the last 13 seasons, including a finalist in 2018, the first in program history
- Nolan and his staff were named United Soccer Coaches National Coaching Staff of the Year for the second time in three years in 2018.
Dave Nolan is coming off of his 21st season as the head coach of the Georgetown University women’s soccer team and has continued to build the most successful women’s soccer teams in program history. Nolan, who has been part of the program for 27 years, has seen women’s soccer grow from its infancy to the present, where the Hoyas are now ranked among the top teams in the country. Since his arrival at Georgetown as an assistant coach in 1999, Nolan has guided the team to become one of the best in the BIG EAST and a consistent NCAA Tournament contender, with 12-straight appearances in the postseason tournament.
In his time on the Hilltop, the team has set program records for total wins (21 in 2018), regular season wins (15 in 2018 and 2013), BIG EAST wins (8 in 2018, 2011 and 2008), shutouts (17 in 2017 and 2016) and longest winning streak (14 games), as well as managed seven BIG EAST regular season titles (2024, 2023, 2022, spring 2021, 2018, 2017 and 2012). Over that span, the Blue & Gray has made 13 total appearances, including the last 12, in the NCAA Tournament, as well as two trips within three years to the College Cup. Nolan and his staff have been named the National Coaching Staff twice within three years.
Nolan built his squad to become one of the top contenders in the BIG EAST Conference, reaching the league’s title game the past eight seasons and winning seven of them. Under his coaching, a Hoya has been named a BIG EAST Player of the Year each year since 2010. Additionally, the Hoyas were named the BIG EAST preseason favorites the past five seasons.
In the 2021 season, Nolan led the squad to a 14-2-6 record seeing them all the way through to a BIG EAST Tournament win and the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The Hoyas added their fifth BIG EAST Tournament win, back-to-back with 2020, earning an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament where they beat Central Connecticut in round one and fell to the 2021 champions Santa Clara in round two. Georgetown finished 14th in the NCAA’s RPI and tallied a top-10 win over ranked Rutgers.
Nolan saw his most successful season in 2018 as his squad was ranked as high as No. 2 in the country, its highest ranking in program history, and finished the season 21-1-3, the most wins in program history. Georgetown finished the season ranked second in the nation in GAA (.384), save percentage (.903) and winning percentage (.900). His team recorded just one loss, which occurred in the season finale against North Carolina in the College Cup semifinals, and held the longest winning streak in the country with 14-straight wins as well as reaching the College Cup.
The Hoyas saw unprecedented success in 2016 when Nolan guided the team to a 20-3-3 overall record, including the first-ever BIG EAST Championship and a run to the NCAA College Cup, falling to eventual national champion Southern California. Georgetown set program records for shutouts (17) and goals scored (61). Two players earned All-America honors and Nolan and his staff were recognized by the United Soccer Coaches with their first National Coaching Staff of the Year Award.
Georgetown has had a player selected as a MAC Hermann Trophy Semifinalist , as Ingrid Wells (C’11) was recognized in 2010 and 2011, Emily Menges (C’14) was recognized in 2013, Daphne Corboz (C’14) was recognized in 2012 and 2014 and Rachel Corboz (C’18) was an honoree in 2016 and 2017. Caitlin Farrell was named a MAC Hermann finalist in 2018, marking the first time in program history that a student-athlete was a finalist. Most recently, Julia Leas was named a semifinalist in 2023 and 2023. Leas was one of the most decorated Hoyas in program history and was the second Hoya to be recognized in back-to-back years.
Prior to being promoted to head coach in 2004, Nolan served as an assistant coach with the Hoyas for five seasons. While an assistant, Nolan coordinated recruiting, developed goalkeepers and worked closely with Head Coach Diane Drake in all aspects of preparing the team.
Nolan came to Georgetown in 1999 after spending the 1998 season on the Seton Hall women’s soccer staff, serving as the goalkeeper coach. Prior to Seton Hall, Nolan was an assistant coach at Fairleigh Dickinson University during the 1997 fall season.
A member of the National Team Pool in Ireland at the youth level, Nolan came to the United States and played soccer at Seton Hall. A four-year starter, he led the Pirates to four-consecutive NCAA tournament berths and two BIG EAST Conference championships. Selected to the 1987 BIG EAST Conference All-Tournament Team, Nolan was named the BIG EAST Conference Student-Athlete of the Year in 1991. He earned his bachelor’s degree in finance in 1991 and later earned a Master of Business Administration in 1993 from Seton Hall.
Nolan holds a premier national license from the United Soccer Coaches and a United States Soccer Federation “A” license.
