BOSTON – Director of Athletics Cary McConnell named Ellie McDougall the next head coach of Suffolk women's soccer Monday morning. McDougall becomes the fourth head coach in the Rams' history and second female to lead the program.
"I am so excited to be a part of the future for the women's soccer program at Suffolk University," McDougall said. "I am honored and humbled to join an institution with such impressive academic history and athletics tradition. I would like to thank Athletic Director Cary McConnell and the search committee for their confidence in me to lead the program. After being on campus, meeting the rest of the staff and the players on the team, and experiencing the Suffolk community, I knew that this was a place I wanted to be."
McDougall continued, "I have been fortunate to work with a lot of great people in my career to this point. Bre Nasypany-Cicero, Kevin Beattie, Keith Cammidge, Jon Arlet and Chris Le have been unbelievable mentors, teachers and friends to me over the past few years. They, along with my family and countless others, have done so much to help me get to this point in my career and I am beyond grateful to them for that. I am looking forward to building on the program's past success and working towards taking the program to new heights!"
McDougall heads to Boston after a four-year stint as an assistant coach at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). In Troy, as the lead assistant coach, she held numerous responsibilities including recruiting, practicing planning, game-day coordination, adjustments and implementation, player development, team building and social media.
RPI compiled 18 wins and a dozen ties with McDougall on the coaching staff and made a Liberty League Tournament berth in 2019. She coached a pair of all-region All-Americans and nine All-Liberty League honorees on the pitch. In the classroom, she helped recruit 12 Liberty League All-Academic Team members.
Prior to joining the Engineers, McDougall's collegiate coaching career began at her alma mater, Mercyhurst in 2016. Over two seasons she was in charge of designing and implementing training sessions for goalkeepers and defenders, as well as the team's strength & conditioning program.
McDougall's coaching resume includes various camps and clinics, as well as head coaching experience at the club level. She holds a U.S. Soccer Grassroots 11v11 Coaching License and was named to the EDP League's "EDP Soccer 30 Promising Young Coaches Under 30" in April of 2020.
As a player at Mercyhurst, she defended the Lakers' net in 54 career games. She compiled a 23-26-3 record with a 1.954 goals-against average and .729 save percentage.
A native of Granby, Connecticut, McDougall graduated Mercyhurst in 2016 as a double major in Business Competitive Intelligence and Sports Management. She earned a Master's in Organizational Leadership with a concentration in Sports Leadership, also from Mercyhurst.