NORMAL, Ill. - The Illinois State women's soccer program has made some changes to its coaching staff. Shaunna Daugherty, who served as a graduate assistant coach for the past two seasons, has been named assistant coach. She has replaced Shawn Mecchi, who was the assistant coach during the 2007 season and left the program to pursue interests outside of collegiate soccer. Daugherty will continue to work with the Illinois State goalkeepers and help coordinate travel and recruiting. Mecchi left his position at the end of December and Daugherty was officially appointed to her new post in the beginning of January.
Head coach Drew Roff is confident that the changes to his staff will benefit the Illinois State women's soccer program and help continue the success it enjoyed in 2007.
"I am very excited to be able to keep Shaunna in the Illinois State program", said Roff. "It will provide continuity for myself and our players and she is an overall great fit for the position. Shaunna has outstanding passion for the game and for Illinois State. She is also very well respected by our players and has a tremendous work ethic that will help us continue to raise the level of our program. Shawn did a great job for us, especially with recruiting, and I truly appreciate all of the hard work he put in over the past year that contributed to our success. As we move forward I don't think we will miss a beat with Shaunna stepping into this role and accepting more responsibility."
Daugherty came to Illinois State as a graduate assistant in 2006 as a member of former head coach Pete Kowall's staff. The Aurora, Ill. native, has also coached at Waubonsie Valley High School, where she was a two-time all-state selection as a prep, and Elmhurst College. She has also served as a coach for numerous Chicago-area club teams and has worked with the Illinois and Region II Olympic Development Programs (ODP). She was a four-year starter at Indiana and is second in school history in wins (23), third in saves (221) and shutouts (11.5) and sixth in goals against average (1.32).
"I am very thankful for the opportunity that coach Roff has given me and very excited to be able to stay with this program full-time," said Daugherty. "I love being a Redbird and I feel very strongly that coach Roff is taking this program in the right direction. I'm confident that many more successful seasons are in the future for this team and I am looking forward to being a part of it. This team is full of players who are dedicated and fun to be around. I'm excited to watch them continue to grow and develop as players and as women."
Mecchi came to Illinois State from the University of Indianapolis soon after Roff was named head coach last year. While at Indianapolis, Mecchi assisted both the men's and women's programs with goalkeeper training, recruiting, match preparation and analysis. He was also the head coach of the Dynamo FC '91 club team and the goalkeeping director of the Dynamo club. Prior to his stint at Indianapolis, Mecchi was the assistant coach at The College of New Jersey and helped guide the Lions to a 22-1 record, the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) regular season and tournament titles and the NCAA Division III national finals.
"It was an incredibly tough decision for me to leave coaching and Illinois State, but I decided it was best for me to step away from coaching full time to pursue some other opportunities," Mecchi said. "Helping this group of players to accomplish so many of their goals was a meaningful and rewarding experience that will stay with me for a long time to come. It was my privilege to help coach Roff bring his culture of success to ISU and I look forward to following the bright future of the program. I am not sure if I will return to coaching in the future or not, but I am confident that this is the right decision for me at this time. I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Illinois State and have already planned a few trips back to see some games next season."
