Despite being one of the most decorated coaches in college soccer history, Noreen Herlihy did not play organized soccer until after she had graduated high school.
“I was more of a basketball player than I ever was a soccer player,” said Herlihy. “I was with a friend watching a practice session, and the coach said, ‘we need a player. Can you jump in?’”
The prospect of coaching had not even crossed her mind until after being selected to the Irish National Team in 1985.
“I actually wanted to go into orthopedics, but I got a chance soon after to represent Ireland’s national team,” said Herlihy.
During her three years with the team, she played in the European qualifiers against the likes of England, Scotland, Holland and Sweden.
But it was her basketball roots that would help direct her life after traveling across the Atlantic Ocean.
After a college visit in Boston did not go to plan, Herlihy and a fellow teammate from the National Team were planning on returning home. Then, a local coach Herlihy knew from the basketball court directed her to Massasoite Community College in Brockton, Massachusetts.
“A basketball family that had met me when they were on a tour in Ireland several years earlier said, ‘you can stay with us, just start at the community college this fall,” said Herlihy.
During her time at Massasoit, Herlihy competed on both the basketball and soccer teams while earning an associate degree in liberal arts.
Following a pair of successful seasons in Brockton, she transferred to Mercyhurst University in Erie, Pennsylvania. With the Lakers, Herlihy was a two-time All-American, an Academic All-American, and an All-Region selection. She graduated from Mercyhurst University in 1992 with a bachelor’s degree in sports medicine.
After graduation, Herlihy remained at Mercyhurst as an assistant coach for the women’s soccer team and admissions counselor.
“The actual coaching is ten percent of your job,” said Herlihy. “That recruitment experience I got working as an admissions counselor, in addition to being a coach, I think separated me in the sense that I knew what it took to recruit.”
During her three seasons behind the bench, the Lakers reached the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division II final four in both 1993 and 1994.
In 1995, just three years after becoming a varsity sport, the Slippery Rock women’s soccer team hired Herlihy to be their next head coach. The Rock, who had only won 11 total games in their first three seasons, won 14 in Herlihy’s second year at the helm, earning herself Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Coach of the Year honors.
It would be prior to the 1997 season that athletic director Paul Lueken proposed to Herlihy the idea of being the head coach of both the women’s and men’s programs.
“They asked me if I’d be interested in doing the men’s program. At first, I laughed it off,” said Herlihy.
Despite, the initial hesitancy, she would later accept the offer. “That was fun. It was great to do it and just to be a part of it.”
After winning just five games the previous season, the men’s soccer team doubled their win total in 1997, going 10-8-0. Over five seasons, Herlihy led The Rock to an overall record of 40-45-4, a significant improvement from before she took it over.
It was during her time coaching the men’s program when she met a standout player named Matt Thompson. As a student-athlete, Thompson was a two-time PSAC All-Conference selection, a three-time Western Pennsylvania All-Star, two-time team captain at Slippery Rock and was named the team’s most valuable player during Herlihy’s first season as coach in 1997. Following the 2001 season, Thompson took over as the head coach of the men’s soccer program, allowing Herlihy to return her full focus to the women’s team.
“When [Thompson] came back, I went back over to the women’s and he coached the men. We worked both programs very closely even after that,” said Herlihy. “We always thought it as ‘Rock Soccer,’ not just ‘Rock Men’s’ and ‘Rock Women’s.’ And Matt then continued on the men’s program here and did a fantastic job.”
In 2008, Thompson, alongside Herlihy, formed the SRU Athletes for Forgotten Angels group. The group assisted people throughout the world that had been struck by disasters through community service efforts, sports clinics and donations of supplies. To prepare for their first trip, student athletes raised over $20,000 from fund-raising drives, such as car washes, auctions and an all-night sports tournament.
From 2008-2014, the group traveled to Haiti, New Orleans, St. Lucia and Kenya to provide supplies and aid to the communities in need.
In 2011, the group stayed home and focused their efforts on the local community around Slippery Rock. In April, they raised over $1,000 at the ‘Dinner for Dreams’ spaghetti dinner, in preparation for their second trip to Haiti. The following spring, the group built a memorial flower garden outside of the Morrow Field House to celebrate the memory of members of the campus community that have lost a battle with cancer.
“Even when I left Slippery Rock, Dr. Joanne Leight would often text me in the spring and say, ‘Noreen, I’m thinking of you. Your flowers are blooming,” said Herlihy.
During each trip, the group wrote daily journal entries of their experiences, which are archived on the Rock Athletics website along with photo galleries.
Thompson, who was inducted into the SRU Athletic Hall of Fame the year following Herlihy, now serves as the head coach for the University of the District of Columbia men’s soccer program.
Throughout her first tenure, Herlihy racked up numerous accolades, including eight NCAA tournament berths, three PSAC championships and 12 PSAC tournament appearances. Additionally, she was named PSAC Coach of the Year on three occasions (1996, 2003 and 2012, later winning the award again in 2024 and 2025). At the time, she was just one of 11 coaches in NCAA Divison II history with 250 wins, along with 19 consecutive winning seasons.
Despite the countless achievements, it’s the off-field relationships that Herlihy takes most pride in.
“It’s lovely to have, because it’s a testament of how your peers view you. It shows at least that you’re doing your job in the right way. But I think, for me as a coach, relationships are what really defines success. I can look back and look at those young women, and how wonderful they are… they’re young mothers now, and career women. It’s just fun to see it and to know that, when they came to you at 17, 18, you helped shape them in some way. I don’t take credit for all of it, but I had a little part in shaping them,” she said.
Following her 20-year career at the helm of The Rock, Herlihy accepted an offer to become the head coach for the University of Akron’s women’s soccer program in 2015. The Zips had struggled for years before and were looking to rebuild the program, and did not have to look far to find their next head coach. However, it was during her fifth season at Akron when something that no amount of coaching experience could prepare her for, the COVID-19 pandemic.
“That was very tough. It was a big rebuild there, and we had just gained momentum, and we lost it,” said Herlihy. “Having said that, you think of the lives lost, and devastation that happened during that time. You kind of think, ‘yeah, it halted our trajectory in what we want to accomplish as a program,’ but in the grand scheme of things, that was so trivial to what really was happening around the world at that time.”
Despite falling below her expectations, Herlihy is still fond of her time in eastern Ohio.
“I’m proud of what I did there. Even though it wasn’t stellar, we’d gotten to the top four, we qualified three times in six years. The program at Akron had only qualified six times in 30 years, and three of them were under my direction. You go somewhere, and you try and make it better, right? But it just wasn’t meant to be there.”
After seven seasons at Akron, Herlihy returned to the PSAC, this time in red and black. Herlihy became the fifth head coach in Indiana University (Pa.) history on June 20, 2022. After a pair of five-win seasons at IUP, the Hawks had a historic run in 2024, making their first NCAA Tournament appearance in over 15 years, and their first PSAC Tournament appearance in five. The 11-3-4 (.722) overall record was the Hawk’s winningest season since 2005.
However, it would be on April 9, 2025, when it was announced that Herlihy would return to The Rock. In a press release from Slippery Rock Athletic Communications, athletic director Roberta Page said “We are excited to welcome [Herlihy] home.”
Despite it being a difficult decision to leave an IUP team coming off a monumental season, Herlihy knew it was meant to be after meeting the roster at SRU.
“I’m sure they were on their best behavior that day. But now, looking back, they weren’t,” said Herlihy. “They are genuinely amazing young women.”
Throughout several stops over the past decade, one name has remained by her side.
Nicole Krueger started her collegiate career at Slippery Rock in 2011, appearing in 20 games and making 12 starts as a freshman. The Scottsdale, Arizona native played under Herlihy for four seasons, totaling 34 points in 65 games, including being named to the 2014 Capital One CoSIDA Academic All-America Team. In her senior season, Kreuger joined Herlihy and the Forgotten Angels on their trip to Kenya.
After graduation, Krueger returned home to Arizona, working as a personal trainer and youth soccer coach. “[Nicole] was trying to find her way after college. I had a position opening at [Akron]. That’s your job as a coach; you look out for your players no matter what. Once their coach, always their coach. So, I had her come on campus. Then I brought her in, and she did a really nice job.”
After Herlihy departed for IUP, another assistant coaching position opened for the Crimson Hawks.
“I had a quarter-time position at Indiana (Pa.), and I said, ‘Nicole, if you still want to keep your foot in the door of college soccer, which I think you should, I have a quarter-time position available,’ and she jumped at it,” Herlihy said.
This relationship carried over back to where it all started: Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania.
“I give her a lot of leeway as an assistant because I trust her. It’s my job to keep mentoring Nicole, so that someday she too can become a head coach.” Herlihy continued, “There would have been one hundred people that would have loved the job, but she had proven herself. The Rock band is back together.”
Despite an office full of trophies, Herlihy says she isn’t done yet.
“I’d love to win another conference championship,” said Herlihy. “The one thing when I was here before is we just fell short of getting to a final four. That really would have been sweet. But we’ll start with bringing another conference championship back to The Rock, for sure. I’m a veteran coach, but I still have that fire in my belly.”
