Emily Buccilla appointed as head coach of East Carolina soccer program

GREENVILLE, N.C. – After serving as an assistant coach for the past seven seasons, Emily Buccilla will be moving to the head coach’s chair for her eighth year in Purple and Gold as she was named the sixth Head Coach in East Carolina soccer history by Director of Athletics Jon Gilbert.

With her hiring, Buccilla becomes the first female coach in program history and will take the reins of a program fresh off its first ever NCAA Tournament berth.

“Emily has been with this program for a long time now,” said Gilbert. “She has done all of the things necessary to put herself in a position to be a head coach and deserves this opportunity. I am excited about the stability she brings to the staff and to the roster. Emily has been a part of some of our most successful teams here at East Carolina and I know she is ready to take over and lead the program into its next era.”

In her seven seasons in Greenville as an assistant, Buccilla has helped usher in a new period of success for the Pirates. In the final six of those seasons, the team saw its winning percentage improve in each successive season, moving from a .361 mark in 2019 to reaching .500 in 2022 to a .643 winning percentage in 2024, the program’s best since 2008.

In this most recent season, Buccilla helped the Pirates to their first ever conference tournament title as they won the American Athletic Conference Tournament Championship and earned their way into the 2024 NCAA Tournament.

“I am incredibly honored and excited to step into the role of head coach at East Carolina University, a place that has become my home over the last seven seasons,” said Buccilla. “Having had the privilege to work with this program and its dedicated student-athletes, I’ve seen firsthand the talent, potential, and passion within this team. I look forward to building on the strong foundation we’ve created together and continuing to uphold the tradition of excellence that defines East Carolina. I’m grateful to Philip Rogers, Jon Gilbert, and Caroline Bevillard for the opportunity and can’t wait to lead this program into its next chapter.”

As far as individual success goes, Buccilla’s tenure with ECU has been a boon, 24 players earning All-Conference recognition, two winning Defensive Player of the Year honors and two winning Rookie of the Year in the American Athletic Conference.

Prior to her arrival at East Carolina, Buccilla spent four seasons as an assistant women’s soccer coach at Stetson University where she worked primarily with the Hatters’ attackers.

Before Stetson, she served as the girls’ head varsity coach at Canal Winchester High School in Winchester, Ohio. In addition to her duties at CWHS, Buccilla also coached the Barcelona Ohio FC U12 & U13 club teams.

Buccilla has been coaching since graduating from St. Bonaventure University with a bachelor’s degree in visual arts in 2012. She spent one year as head coach of the U12 Pickerington (Ohio) Blast, and was the assistant girls track coach at Ridgeview Junior High and the junior varsity girls’ soccer coach at Pickerington North High School.

Buccilla was a four-year letter winner and team captain at St. Bonaventure where she was part of the winningest senior class in SBU history – the first senior class to go to four straight Atlantic 10 Championships.