Meet Coach Gutheil

Laurie Darling Gutheil, who stands 21st among active NCAA II mentors with 127 career victories, enters her 12th year at the helm of The College of Saint Rose women’s soccer program. Darling Gutheil has completely overhauled the program and placed it on the fast track throughout her tenure on Western Avenue. Today, Saint Rose women's soccer can boast that it is among the nation’s most successful small college programs.

The winningest coach in school history, Darling Gutheil has led the club to four NCAA Tournament appearances in the last five years.

A year ago, Saint Rose was ranked as high as #5 in the nation and set a school record with 17 wins en route to capturing the Northeast-10 Conference regular-season title. Darling Gutheil was recognized as the NE-10 Coach of the Year for the second time in her tenure after guiding the squad to a 12-1-1 mark in league play.

Saint Rose also made its seventh consecutive postseason appearance, won at least 13 games for the sixth time in the past seven years and was recognized by the NSCAA for academic excellence for the sixth year in a row. Sami Brown (’09) and Lindsay Bove (’08) were named to the ESPN The Magazine All-District Academic All-America squad, while Kylee Litchfield (’07) garnered first-team All-American honors from the NSCAA.

The Golden Knights raised the bar yet again in 2006 by advancing to the NCAA New England regional final for the second time in program history. The club finished the campaign ranked #13 in the country, the highest position Saint Rose has held at season’s end during its previous 13-years of competing exclusively at the NCAA II level. The 2003 squad was the first to advance to the NCAA New England regional final and finished that campaign ranked #16 in the country.

The 2003 campaign marked another first for the program with fullback Kerri Stone’s ('04) selection as an NSCAA third-team All-American. Stone, a three-year captain who was recruited out of Colorado by Darling Gutheil, was one of only four NCAA II players throughout the country to be named to both the All-America and Scholar All-America squads by the NSCAA. Stone was also honored by the ECAC with the prestigious Robbins Scholar-Athlete Award as the conference's premier NCAA II female student-athlete.

In 2004, Saint Rose once again advanced to the NCAA Tournament before falling 1-0 to eventual “Final Four” participant Franklin Pierce in the New England Regional semifinal.

Darling Gutheil’s peers recognized her in 2002 when they tabbed her as the NE-10 Coach of the Year after she led the Golden Knights through a historic campaign. Saint Rose made its first ever NCAA Tournament appearance and wound up ranked #22 in the country in the final NSCAA poll. The club also set school records for wins (15), shutouts (9), consecutive wins (11), points (171), goals (61), and assists (49).

Saint Rose went 10-7-1 and finished sixth in the conference with an 8-5-1 mark in 2001. The Golden Knights also earned the top seed in the ECAC postseason tournament, but fell 2-1 to Pace University in a semifinal match despite outshooting the Setters by a 15-3 margin. Saint Rose was ranked as high as fifth in the NSCAA New England region poll and closed out the year ranked sixth in the region. The Golden Knights were honored with their first NSCAA/Adidas College Team Academic award that year as well.

Darling Gutheil inherited a program that had gone through three coaches in three seasons and had won only three matches in 1995, the year prior to her arrival. Her presence paid immediate dividends as she guided the Golden Knights to a four-game improvement during her inaugural season at the helm. Darling Gutheil has since parlayed that 7-10 mark in 1996 into a 127-71-12 career record. She has guided the team to seven consecutive 10-plus win seasons for the first time in the program’s 21-year history.

The Golden Knights went 8-9 in 1997 and recorded their first winning season in four years with a 9-8 slate in 1998. Darling Gutheil then directed the Golden Knights to a breakthrough campaign in 1999 when Saint Rose posted an 8-9 mark despite losing six one-goal games. However, the College finished 6-3 in the East Coast Conference (formerly the New York Collegiate Athletic Conference), which foreshadowed its rise to prominence.

Darling Gutheil earned a bachelor’s degree in education for history in 1995 from Hartwick College where she gained induction into the school’s history and psychology Honor Societies. Darling Gutheil was also a four-year starter on the Hawks’ soccer team. She garnered All-State accolades as a senior, served as a team captain and was named the club's Most Valuable Player.

A history teacher at South Glens Falls High School, Darling Gutheil holds a master's degree in guidance and counseling from Sage graduate school where she earned entrance into the National Academic Honor Society. Darling Gutheil resides in Queensbury, NY with her husband and assistant coach Jason Gutheil.