Women's Soccer | 11/24/2015 9:40:00 AM
ABILENE – Abilene Christian head women's soccer coach
Casey Wilson today announced that three-year assistant coach
Stephen Salas has been promoted to associate head coach.
Salas joined the Wildcats during the summer of 2013, in time for their transition into NCAA Division I Athletics and the first of three consecutive winning seasons within the Southland Conference.
"Over the past nine seasons here, my most important asset has been my assistant coaches," said Wilson, "and coach Salas in addition to my former assistants each have played a crucial role in building this program in many different ways. Their love of the game, hard work, and investment in these players has been awesome to witness. I'm fortunate to have coach Salas on this staff."
Salas has occupied a dual coaching role since his arrival, working with both the field players and goalkeepers
Kelsey Dombrowski and
Sydney Newton. Between their freshman and sophomore seasons this duo combined for 21 wins, a 1.02 goals-against average and eight shutouts. Newton unexpectedly took over this past year in goal after Dombrowski was lost early on to a season-ending injury.
Newton responded to the challenge by winning seven games, pitching three shutouts and posting 1.50 GAA against a challenging non-conference slate that included both Texas and Texas A&M. Newton set a school single-match record with 14 saves vs. the Aggies and stopped 11 in a one-goal loss at Texas. She later earned SLC Goalkeeper of the Week honors on Oct. 6 after shutting out Central Arkansas and Northwestern State in consecutive matches.
Newton finished 2015 ranked among the Southland's top-10 goalkeepers in four categories. She was fifth in saves (5.31) and shutouts (.125) per game, sixth with a .794 save percentage and eighth with a 1.50 GAA.
ACU started this past season at 1-6-2, but battled back during conference play to finish 8-8-3 overall and 7-2-2 vs. the 12-team league, which was good for third place.
Salas helped guide the Wildcats to a 13-5-1 overall record in his first season on the ACU bench, watching his goalkeepers combine for seven shutouts, a 0.88 GAA, 81 saves and a .827 save percentage.
Newton's 0.84 GAA was the sixth lowest in the Southland Conference that season, while Dombrowski's mark of 0.91 was ranked seventh. Both netminders also finished among the league's top-10 in save percentage.
Dombrowski and Newton continued to share the spotlight in 2014, combining to post four shutouts and log the third-lowest GAA in the Southland Conference at 1.17 as the Wildcats finished 5-4-2 vs. league opponents.
Dombrowski recorded a 0.98 GAA during her sophomore season with 52 saves and a .839 save percentage. Newton additionally ranked among the league's leaders with a 1.37 GAA, .797 save percentage and 4.25 saves per game (51 saves).
Although brought on board as ACU's first true goalkeeping coach, Salas has continually impressed Wilson with his ability to recruit and instruct field players.
"Salas is as instrumental with the field players' technical and tactical development on a daily basis as he is with the goalkeepers," said Wilson. "He also spends a lot of time on the road identifying future players in addition to serving as our academic and compliance liaison. We will continually have 25-30 players on the roster because of his overall commitment to the program, and his role has been crucial in helping me run this program as efficiently as possible."
Formerly a star player and assistant coach at neighboring Hardin-Simmons University, Salas has a 'C' license from the USSF plus a national goalkeeping license and national diploma from the NSCAA. He received his Bachelor's of Behavioral Science in Education degree from Hardin-Simmons in December of 2012.
