Soccer (M)

June 7, 2013

Former Men's Soccer Standout Named NC Women's Soccer Coach of the Year

by Ronnie Gallagher, The Salisbury Post www.thesalisburypost.com

MOUNT ULLA, NC  -- Scott Young and Mike Gurley now have some company at West Rowan.  Young, the football coach, and Gurley, the hoops coach, have both been named North Carolina Coach of the Year.  Nick Brown, a former men's soccer standout at Catawba College, is joining them as he was named the N.C. Women's Soccer Coach of the Year.

It can go with his North Piedmont Conference and Region 7 awards.

“I’ve just got good players who are willing to work hard and give me everything they’ve got,” a humbled Brown said.

What he got was a team that went 17-4 and was ranked second in the state at one time. The Falcons also ended their season on a 38-match NPC win streak that will never be broken since they are heading for a new South Piedmont Conference next season.

Even more impressive is how Brown molded this year’s team. He had lost 10 seniors, including all-state Allison Baucom.

“There were a lot of question marks,” Brown said. “We got the girls to believe and they stepped up with career numbers. Everything came together.”

He especially praised seniors Kayla Boley and Toni Lucente.

Lucente will join Brown at today’s banquet to pick up her all-state award. She finished her career with 103 goals and 93 assists. Twenty-five of her goals and 25 assists came this season.

Brown has been West’s head coach for six years and still assists the woman’s program at his alma-mater, Catawba.

“To be honest, in college, I didn’t even like women’s soccer,” Brown admitted with a grin. “But when I came on board at Catawba, I loved it.”

A native Canadian from Toronto, Brown played on a team that came to the area and was recruited by the Indians. His playing career spanned from 2001-04.

“I never left,” he smiled.

When he took over at West, he had good players, like goalkeeper Honour Trosper, but the coaching was always up in the air.

“They had four coaches in four years and there wasn’t that coaching stability,” he said.

There is now. And West has produced yet another state coach of the year.

“This is what I am,” Brown said of being a soccer coach. “I love what I’m doing.”