Drexel University Athletics
Women's Soccer
- Title:
- Head Coach
- Email:
- goonrw@drexel.edu
- Phone:
- 215-895-1595
215-895-1595
goonrw@drexel.edu
Head Coach Ray Goon begins his 12th season as the head coach of the women’s soccer program. Goon has overseen the program since June of 1996. Goon has seen Drexel’s rapid rise from restarting a varsity program to now being part of one of the top conferences in the nation. After five seasons in the America East, Goon and his Dragons moved into the Colonial Athletic Association and are now in their seventh year in the league. Last season, Goon’s team accumulated more points in the CAA standings than in any other previous year since joining the conference. Coach Goon and the Dragons have 15 returning letterwinners, including All-Conference goalkeeper Kaitlin Bond and all-time leading scorer Aleka Yiantsos, as they continue their ascent in the CAA.
Last year the Dragons continued to make strides in the CAA. Drexel defeated UNC Wilmington for the first time since joining the league and earned a tie against James Madison, an NCAA Tournament team a year ago. Goon’s team finished 6-9-3 overall and 2-7-2 in the CAA despite missing the services of Yiantsos, who missed most of last season with a knee injury. The Dragons set a school record by allowing just 20 goals and compiling a 1.06 goals against average.
Goon has had three of his players named All-CAA and has had two All-Rookie selections. Bond was the first Drexel goalkeeper honored by the CAA when she was named All-CAA Third Team. Former Dragon Katie Kane was a two-time All-CAA performer. In addition, current sophomore Kim Chiarelli and Bond were both named to the CAA All-Rookie team as freshman.
In 2005, Goon led the Dragons to their best season in the history of the program as the team recorded a school-record seven victories. In addition, five of Drexel’s nine CAA losses were one-goal matches, including four in overtime.
Assigned the task of navigating the Drexel program from club status to a member of the competitive America East conference, Goon posted three wins in each of his first two seasons. In 2001, his team racked up six victories and had a 3-5-3 record in its final year in the conference. That team set a single-season school record with 27 goals.
Goon arrived in West Philadelphia via Philadelphia University where he posted a 28-9-2 record from 1994-95 as the head women’s soccer coach. His team captured the 1995 New York Collegiate Athletic Conference (NYCAC) championship and earned the program’s first postseason bid with an appearance in the ECAC Championships. His efforts earned him 1995 NYCAC Coach of the Year, NSCAA Division II Regional Coach of the Year and Philadelphia Oldtimers Association Coach of the Year distinctions.
Prior to his stint at Philadelphia University, Goon was an assistant women’s coach at Rutgers University from 1990-94. He was also the head men’s coach for two seasons at Brookdale (N.J.) Community College (1989-90) and an assistant men’s coach at the State University of New York at New Paltz from 1986-89. Goon served on the coaching staff for the women’s New Jersey and Eastern Pennsylvania Olympic Development programs from 1991 to 2003.
A 1985 graduate of Rutgers University with a degree in economics, Goon was a member of the Scarlet Knights’ 1983 team that went undefeated during the regular season, advanced to the NCAA Tournament and and finished the year with a 17-1-2 mark. Goon was the recipient of the Alfred Sasser Award at Rutgers and was an all-state honoree as a senior back. He pursued professional soccer in 1985 as a member of the Houston Dynamos of the United Soccer League before entering the coaching ranks.
A New Jersey native, Goon and his wife, Karen, reside in Mount Laurel.
