Breaking records and cultivating greatness
During our 2021 campaign our expectation of excellence was more evident than ever in our play. We excelled in our newly established C2C conference and advanced to the conference championship game concluding our season against the eventual NCAA national champions. We cemented ourselves in the conference by taking home coaching staff of the year and rookie of the year awards, two slugs were selected first-team all conference and six garnered second-team all conference nods.
In 2023, we made history by battling against #1 ranked Christopher Newport in the Coast to Coast Conference Finals. We showed our grit in battling for 120 minutes becoming the only team to outshoot CNU and keep a clean sheet. One slug was named the Offensive Player of the year, three were selected first-team all conference, and one was selected second-team all conference. Additionally, three slugs were named to the All Tournament Team. For the first time, our team was ranked regionally, climbing to number seven after big wins over CMS and Chapman.
The only UC that's a D3
We are one of 10 campuses in the prestigious University of California system and the only Division 3 institution. Year after year, we play a tough schedule against the strongest D3 teams in the region – additionally, close to half our schedule is against competitive D2 and NAIA competition. Players thrive in an academically rigorous environment that also challenges them athletically. In the last three years, 8 athletes have been awarded the United Soccer Coaches College Team Academic Award. The team has also received conference awards for coaching staff of the year (2021, 2022), defensive player of the year, offensive player of the year, and rookie of the year. Additionally, 15 athletes have been named to the all-conference teams.
One of the most well-respected public universities, UC Santa Cruz offers challenging academics coupled with research opportunities unique to our institution. Our university spans over 2,000 acres on Monterey Bay. Forbes dubbed our campus among the world’s most beautiful. The forest, the beach, and downtown are all 10 minutes away from campus.
Our Coaches
Our relationship with the coaches is personal yet professional. You can tell that they want the best for us and are always around to talk.
HEAD COACH - LILIA DOSALMAS
Lilia Dosalmas was named Head Coach of the UC Santa Cruz women’s soccer program in July 2022 and brings extensive experience to the position. Dosalmas spent the previous six years as the Head Coach at fellow Coast-to-Coast member Mills College. While at Mills, she led the Cyclones to qualify for GSAC playoffs in 2015, and the ACAA conference playoffs quarterfinals in 2016, 2017, and 2019 and again in the Coast-to-Coast conference post-season tournament in 2021. Her tenure at Mills produced seven all conference team selections and Dosalmas’ 2018 squad cemented their place in the history books by not only scoring the most goals in school history but also amassing the most wins in 13 years. Under Dosalmas’ guidance, student athletes excelled in the classroom as well. In 2020, half of the women’s soccer roster earned Coast-to-Coast All-Academic honors. She has coached at Merritt College, Diablo Valley College, and is currently the Head Coach at Head-Royce High School.
Coach Dosalmas holds a Bachelor’s degree from UC Santa Barbara and a Master’s degree from UC Berkeley in Education with an emphasis in the Cultural Studies of Sport in Education. She has received national coaching licenses from the USSF and holds her Advanced National Diploma from United Soccer Coaches.
ASSISTANT COACH - MAGGIE KERSTING
Maggie Kersting is in her first season as an Assistant Coach of the UC Santa Cruz women’s soccer program after graduating from Lake Forest College in Illinois in December of 2022. While starting for the Foresters for five years, she earned the Midwest Conference Defensive Player of the Year Award in both 2021 and 2022, and set program goalkeeping records for shutouts in a season and career. While studying neuroscience and psychology, she worked to develop athlete mental health resources and research the intersection of the athlete identity and allocation of self-worth. She looks forward to coaching and working closely with the goalkeepers.