Fordham University Women's Soccer

Adding her services to the women's soccer staff is Shannon Colligan.  After serving as the Volunteer Director of Operations and Alumni & Community Outreach Liaison, Colligan was promoted to assistant coach in the spring of 2023. In 2024, the Rams posted a 10-5-4 record and a top four finish in the conference, allowing the Rams to host their first home playoff game in over two decades.  It was Fordham’s best finish in the conference standings since 2009. As a team, the Rams finished 2024 with 37 team assists, which ranked as the second-best mark in team history, while having 36 goals (5th) and 109 points (3rd). Colligan is very familiar with Coach Nilerud, having played soccer for him at the University of Bridgeport, as well as lacrosse.  Her senior season, she helped the soccer team make it to the NCAA Elite Eight, was named to the All-East Region First Team, and was selected to the All-East Region All-Star Team.   Prior to Bridgeport, she played soccer at North Carolina State and Richmond, playing both soccer and lacrosse for the Spiders. In her junior soccer season, she finished tenth in the NCAA Division I for assists, which put her second in the Richmond Spiders' record book. Since Bridgeport, Colligan played professional soccer in Sweden for Sandviken Dam FC in 2019, while also working for BlueStreak Sports Training for seven years, specializing in speed, strength, agility training and trained skill development for lacrosse and soccer players. She also served as the Assistant Girls Soccer Coach at New Canaan High School and the Assistant Girls Lacrosse Coach at Greenwich High School. Before college, Colligan was a graduate of Greenwich High School, where she was a four-year varsity starter for both soccer and lacrosse. Her senior year, she was awarded GHS Female Athlete of the Year, and was nominated for the ESPN/Gatorade Female Athlete of the Year.  She was an All-American soccer player and holds the all-time goals scored record for Greenwich. She was a team captain her senior year and was a part of back-to-back FCIAC Championships in 2010 & 2011.  Colligan was also an All-State player for lacrosse, holding the all-time assists record. A two-year team captain in 2011 & 2012, the team won back-to-back State Championships with Colligan being the State Tournament MVP in 2011. She graduated with her degree in Psychology from the University of Bridgeport in 2018.

David Flower begins his third season on the Fordham women's soccer staff in 2024.  Flower will serve as goalkeeper coach and is responsible for sports and performance analysis. In 2024, the Rams posted a 10-5-4 record and a top four finish in the conference, allowing the Rams to host their first home playoff game in over two decades.  It was Fordham’s best finish in the conference standings since 2009. As a team, the Rams finished 2024 with 37 team assists, which ranked as the second-best mark in team history, while having 36 goals (5th) and 109 points (3rd).   Flower has an extensive background coaching club and high school soccer over the last 20 years.   At the club level, he has been with the Chelsea Piers Soccer Club in Connecticut since 2012, and currently serves as the director of coaching and senior soccer director.  He also held that position at CFC Chelsea in Stamford from 2013 to 2017, while also acting as the head coach of CFC Arsenal in Fairfield County.  Flower also spent time coaching CFC United, which won the Connecticut State Championship three straight years from 2009-11.   For high school, Flower was a position head coach at Westhill High School from 2004 to 2018 before taking over as the varsity head coach at Greenwich Country Day School.  He helped guide Westhill to the 2009 CIAC State Championship and was a three-time FCIAC Girls Soccer Coach of the Year (2009, 2011, 2014) and the 2009 CGSCA Coach of the Year.   A 1998 graduate of Oxpens College in the United Kingdom, Flower holds an NSCAA National Diploma and a USFF Grassroots License, while having English FA Level 3 Soccer Coaching (UEFA B) status.