Seton Hall hires Ciara Crinion as women’s soccer head coach

South Orange, N.J. (Via Seton Hall University) – Ciara Crinion has been named the new Seton Hall women’s soccer head coach, Vice President & Director of Athletics Patrick Lyons announced Wednesday. Crinion comes to The Hall after seven outstanding seasons as an assistant and associate head coach at Hartford.

“We are very excited to welcome Ciara to the Seton Hall Athletics family,” Lyons said. “During the interview process, Ciara demonstrated great passion for coaching and mentoring student-athletes and getting them to reach their maximum potential. We believe that she will not only give our student-athletes a great experience here at Seton Hall, but she will also develop them into contenders in the BIG EAST Conference.”

Crinion had a very successful run at Hartford, working under head coach John Natale. In seven seasons, the Hawks accumulated a 77-36-20 record (.654), won four America East regular season championships and reached the America East Tournament final on four occasions.

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With Crinion on staff, Hartford has had three United Soccer Coaches All-America selections, four America East Midfielder of the Year honorees, three America East Striker of the Year picks, three America East Goalkeeper of the Year nods and one America East Defender of the Year and Co-Rookie of the Year. Crinion has been a member of three Hartford coaching staffs to earn America East Coaching Staff of the Year.

Crinion also helped Hartford maintain an excellent commitment to academic success; the Hawks have had an Academic All-America selection in four of the last seven years and the program has received the United Soccer Coaches Team Academic Award each of the last five years. The program’s cumulative grade point average at the end of the 2017-18 academic year was 3.70.

“I would like to thank Pat Lyons and his staff for giving me this opportunity to lead the women’s soccer program,” Crinion said. “I am extremely excited to be a Pirate and ready to get to work.”

Both the offense and defense have received significant boosts since Crinion joined Natale’s staff. The Hawks have ranked among the top-three in the America East in goals and points in each of the last seven years, including leading the conference in goals per match (2.28) and assists per match (1.94) in 2018. In total, the Hawks racked up 41 goals and 35 assists en route to 13 victories.

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Defensively, the Hawks have perennially been one of the top teams in the league since Crinion’s arrival. Hartford has posted a goals-against average of 0.93 or better in six of the past seven years and has led the America East in the category in five of those seasons, including in 2018 with a 0.89 mark. Hartford has 56 shutouts in Crinion’s seven seasons on staff. That represents 42 percent of Hartford’s matches played.

Crinion joined Hartford’s coaching staff after a standout, four-year career at Central Connecticut State. A 2010 graduate with a Bachelor of Science in Exercise Science & Health Promotion, she was a two-time Northeast Conference first team selection during her time at Central Connecticut, helping lead the Blue Devils to an NEC Tournament Championship in 2008 and a regular season title in 2009. Also included in Crinion’s playing career are stints with the Irish National U17 and U19 Teams. In addition, she was a member of the Arsenal Ladies Academy (2004-06) and the Boston Renegades in the W League in 2007.

Crinion holds a USSF ‘A’ license, a Youth National coaching license, an NCAA National Diploma and a FA Level 1 and FA Level 2 coaching licenses. In addition to her bachelor’s degree, Crinion earned a Master of Science in Recreation & Sports Sciences and Masters in Soccer Coaching from Ohio University in 2017.