For Immediate Release: November 10, 2003

Contact: Chris Gondek, SUNYAC Publicist

SUNYAC Announces Men and Women’s Coaches of the Year

FREDONIA, N.Y. – Plattsburgh’s Chris Waterbury and Fredonia’s Chris Case have been selected as the SUNYAC Men and Women’s Soccer Coaches of the Year at the annual coaches meeting in Syracuse. The awards were voted on by the SUNYAC coaches and are given out annually after the SUNYAC Championships have been completed.
Waterbury led his Cardinals to a perfect 9-0 conference record this year for the first time since the 1994 season. The Cardinals spent virtually the entire season nationally-ranked and finished the regular season at 15-3. Plattsburgh lost in the SUNYAC semifinals to Fredonia 2-1 but their postseason will continue in the ECAC Tournament. The Cardinals drew a first-round bye into Saturday’s semifinals and will play the winner of Wednesday’s game between Vassar and Rochester.
Case guided the Blue Devils to their first-ever SUNYAC Tournament appearance this year. The second-year head coach took his team from a 2-6-2 record in the conference a year ago to 5-4-1 in 2003. He also guided the Blue Devils to 11 wins overall, second most in the 18-year history of the program at Fredonia. Case has put together back-to-back winning seasons in 2002 and 2003 for a Blue Devil team that had not finished better than .500 the previous seven years.