Central Michigan University Athletics
Houliston to Bolster Stafford's Coaching Staff
8/3/2012 12:00:00 AM | Soccer
MOUNT PLEASANT — Former Fort Wayne FC head coach Anne Houliston has joined soccer head coach Neil Stafford’s staff for the 2012 season as a graduate assistant coach.
“Anne has a great knowledge of the game and will be magnificent on the field with her instruction, her coaching, and her ability to communicate what she wants out of the players,” Stafford said. "She’s bringing great playing experience, and some really great coaching experience with her.
“I really think having a great female role model for our players is so important. We’re here to teach life lessons, using soccer as vehicle, and Anne will be able to do that very well.”
Houliston most recently served as the head coach for Fort Wayne FC in the Women’s Premier Soccer League in 2012. She has also served as a graduate soccer assistant at Murray State, a youth girls’ soccer head coach for the Indian River Soccer Association, and an intern and assistant junior varsity coach and intern at her alma mater Lindsey Wilson College.
She was an NAIA first-team All-American and a member of the all-conference team at Lindsey Wilson College, where she played from 2007-08. She has also played professionally in the W-League for three teams, and for three club teams in Scotland. She won both the Scottish Premier League and the Scottish Cup as a member of the Glasgow City Ladies F.C. in 2005-06.
She represented her home country of Scotland on the U16 team once and three times at the European Championships as a member of the U19 team.
Randy Oja, a 2011 graduate of Central Michigan, will also join the program as the director of operations in a graduate assistantship capacity.
The Chippewas open their season Friday, August 17, at Detroit, before hosting the first home match of the season against Evansville Sunday, August 19.
