MORAGA, Calif. – Saint Mary's Women's Soccer is excited to announce the hiring of new Assistant Coach, Garry L. Lewis, who comes to the Gaels from the University of the Cumberlands.
 
With more than eight years of coaching experience, Lewis brings his forward-thinking and innovative coaching values to the Gaels. Not only does he bring his stateside experience to the Gaels, but Lewis also spent three years as an assistant coach in Finland, where he worked for both FC Turun Palloseura and Liikunnan Riemu Futsal.
 
As a standout player in his youth, Lewis attended University of North Carolina where he captained the Tarheels to the NCAA Collegiate Cup Final in 2008. Lewis began his coaching career in 2014, where he became the Youth Technical Director/Development Academy Head Coach for the Jacksonville Armada FC Youth Academy. During his 3-year tenure, he helped 24 players get promoted from the First Level in the Florida competitive soccer ranks to the Premier Level. On top of that, he also helped 19 players earn collegiate scholarships.
 
The Florida native then took his football pedigree abroad, where he played and coached for the Liikunnan Riemu Futsal squad. He managed to juggle both playing and coaching all while writing his Master's thesis.
 
For the past two years Lewis has been the Assistant Coach for the University of the Cumberlands Men's Soccer Team. During his tenure, he helped the Patriots reach back-to-back Conference Finals as well as a National Tournament appearance.
 
In his first season with the Patriots, he helped the squad finish sixth in the country, as well as a historic Elite Eight finish in the NAIA tournament, the best finish in school history. The following year, Lewis oversaw the growth of 13 Academic All-Conference Players, and seven All Conference Players.
 
Lewis has experience designing showcase events and as a talent identifier camps for Florida State Women's Soccer and the University of Denver's Men's Soccer. He's been a recruiting coordinator, a creator of training sessions, utilized video software and sports tracking equipment to enhance learning outcomes, and is proficient in the use of sports performance tracking equipment.
 
Fueled by a passion to help student athletes succeed and achieve their goals, the Gaels look to benefit from his expertise with the regular season looming just around the corner.
 
The Gaels begin play this season with an exhibition at home against UC Davis on Sunday, August 7 at 12:00 p.m. and will kick off the regular season on Thursday, August 18 against Cal Poly at 4:00 p.m.