ODP State Coaches:
Cincinnati Area (District 1) Head Coach: TBA
Dayton Area (District 2) Head Coach: Scott Rodgers
Columbus Area (District 3) Head Coach: Dr. Jay Martin

The Wright State women’s soccer team has reached many milestones in the four years that Scott Rodgers has been head coach.  After finishing fourth in the Midwestern Collegiate Conference and earning the first-ever conference tournament win by the program in 1997, Wright State accomplished the near impossible in 1998.  The team, after placing fifth in the MCC during the regular season, pulled off three straight upsets in the MCC Tournament to advance to the NCAA Tournament for the first time ever.  It also marked the first time that a Raider women’s team had qualified for an NCAA Division I tournament.

That list continued to grow in 1999 as the Raiders won the MCC regular-season championship for the first time and made their second straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament, the first time a Raider team had made consecutive trips to a NCAA Division I tournament.  As a result, Rodgers was selected as the MCC Coach of the Year and later named as WSU’s Coach of the Year.

In 2000, the string of success continued for the women’s soccer team as WSU, despite being the third seed, won its third consecutive MCC Tournament at Alumni Field.  The Raiders once again appeared in the NCAA Tournament and nearly advanced to the second round, only to fall in double overtime at Marquette.

With that much success and with a new home in Alumni Field, which was the site of the 2000 MCC Tournament, the future is indeed bright for Wright State women’s soccer under Rodgers, who enters his fifth season at the helm.

Rodgers, who also serves as an Olympic Development coach for Region II, holds a United States Soccer Federation “A” coaching license.  He and his wife, Jennifer, were married last July and reside in Dayton.

Jay Martin, who also serves as Ohio Wesleyan’s athletic director, has guided his 23 soccer teams to a 387-80-31 record, including taking the Battling Bishops to the 1998 NCAA Division III championship. His teams have reached the NCAA Division III semifinals 5 times, finishing as national runner-up twice in addition to the 1998 title.  They have brought home 10 regional titles, including 7 in the last 11 seasons. Martin’s teams set an NCAA record with 18 consecutive Division III tournament berths from 1978-1995 and have won 13 conference crowns and an unprecedented 13 Stu Perry Awards, the latter recognizing Ohio’s top Division III team each year. He has been the NCAA Mideast Region Coach of the Year, an honor awarded to one coach from all divisions, 12 times in his 22 years at Ohio Wesleyan and was named NSCAA national coach of the year in 1991 and 1998.