UMass women’s soccer adds Morgan Ferrara to coaching staff

AMHERST, Mass. – University of Massachusetts women’s soccer head coach Jason Dowiak announced Friday that Morgan Ferrara has been named the program’s new assistant coach. Ferrara arrives in Amherst after serving as an assistant coach at Eastern Kentucky since 2018.

Ferrara replaces Marsha Harper, who was named the head coach at American University earlier this year.

“We are so excited to welcome Morgan to our UMass women’s soccer family,” Dowiak said. “Sam and I have known Morgan for a number of years and have watched her grow from an incredibly competitive student-athlete, who has led every team she has ever been a part of, into a well-educated and extremely passionate coach. Her ability to build strong relationships will be an invaluable resource for our program, both for our current players and with our future prospective Minutewomen.”

At Eastern Kentucky, Ferrara helped lead the program to its third consecutive Ohio Valley Conference semifinals appearance in 2018, and guided Erin Torrence to the best offensive season in program history with new school records in goals and points.

“I am very excited and grateful for the opportunity to join Jason Dowiak, Sam Mitchell, Ricky Newton and the Minutewomen family,” Ferrara said. “I have always respected Jason as a coach and can’t wait to learn and grow with him and the rest of the staff. We have huge goals for the fall and I can’t wait to get started.”

Ferrara also directed the sport science within the program, focusing on player management load, conditioning, periodization of players in and out of season, and responsible for summer and holiday break conditioning programs. She also planned and organized team training sessions, including individual and small group sessions.

Ferrara arrived at Eastern Kentucky following a standout career at the University of Central Florida. She was voted the AAC Offensive Player of the Year and to the United Soccer Coaches All-Southeast Region First Team after leading the Knights with 13 goals and three assists in 2017.

The Tampa, Florida native started all 18 games and finished the year with six game-winning goals, tied for second-most in a single season at UCF. Her performance led the Knights to a 13-2-3 (7-0-2 AAC) record and the 2017 AAC Regular Season Championship.

Ferrara earned second team All-AAC honors as a junior after recording seven goals and one assist in 2016.

Off the field, Ferrara was just as impressive. She carried a 3.89 grade point average through her undergraduate career and graduated in May of 2018 with a degree in sport and exercise science (human performance).

She was also a 2018 NCAA Woman of the Year finalist and the president of UCF’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC). In the summer of 2017, Ferrara was one of 300 student-athletes from around the country selected to attend the NCAA Career in Sports Forum, where she spent four days learning valuable leadership techniques in Indianapolis.

Ferrara joins a Minutewomen coaching staff that led the program to a 10-6-3 record on the season, marking the first time since 2000 and 2001 that the Minutewomen recorded double-digit wins in consecutive seasons.