Arizona adds Philip Congleton and Nathaniel Gonzalez to coaching staff
TUCSON – Arizona Soccer has added Philip Congleton and Nathaniel Gonzalez as Assistant Coaches ahead of its 2024 season, as announced by Head Coach Becca Moros.
Congleton joins the team from NJ/NY Gotham FC where he has served as Head of Sports Science since 2020. In his role there, Congleton was responsible for monitoring data and analytics to track players’ physical performance. He created team and individual plans to assist with training, injury prevention, rehabilitation and load.
He has served as a sports science consultant for Arizona Soccer since Dec. 2022, assisting the coaching staff with data usage and load management.
“I’m really excited to work with Philip again,” Moros said. “He’s served as an independent contractor for the team over the past eighteen months and knows our athletes already. He brings championship pedigree and five plus years of experience working at the highest levels of professional women’s soccer. His understanding of sports science, GPS Data tracking, and physical loading is essential to the wellbeing and high performance of our student athletes. I’m certain he will help us take our program to the next level.”
Congleton spent two seasons at James Madison as a high performance coach, implementing a data-driven philosophy to help guide training and load management for the student-athletes.
He spent the 2016 collegiate season at Mary Baldwin University as the strength and conditioning coach for women’s soccer, creating a periodization scheme for team sessions and working individually with student-athletes on strength and fitness development.
Congleton graduated from Christopher Newport University in 2014 with a Bachelor of Science in Integrative Biology and obtained a master’s degree in Exercise Physiology in 2019 from James Madison.
Gonzalez comes to Tucson from UC Riverside where he has been the head coach since 2011. He was named Big West Coach of the Year in 2013 and in 2014 led the Highlanders to their first winning season in eight years. Seven student-athletes garnered First Team All-Big West status in his time at UC Riverside, and eight players were NSCAA All-Region selections.
“Nat comes to Arizona with tremendous experience both domestically at the collegiate level with UC Riverside and internationally as the head coach of the Puerto Rican Women’s National Team,” Moros said. “He is a great leader and tactician, and I’m confident he will do a great job managing and developing our goalkeepers and will bring much to our coaching staff and program as we strive and compete to reach our potential.”
He has a wealth of international coaching experience and is the current head coach of the Puerto Rican National Team, a position he has held since 2021. He will continue in that role while at Arizona and coaches Jill Aguilera, Arizona’s all-time goals career leader, on the team. He served as an assistant coach for the United States U18 and U20 National Teams and helped the U20 team prepare for the 2008 and 2010 U20 World Cups.
Gonzalez began his coaching career in 1994 at UCLA and has spent time coaching collegiately at Cal Poly, Washington, Southern California and San Diego State.
He played professional for four years, competing in the National Professional Soccer League, the United States Interregional Soccer League and the Continental Indoor Soccer League. He was a goalkeeper at UCLA from 1988-91 and was a member of the 1990 NCAA Championship team.
Gonzalez graduated from UCLA in 1995 and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology. He additionally obtained a Master of Science in Exercise Studies from California University of Pennsylvania in 2011.
