Saint Francis University Women's Soccer

Diaz will be in his third season in Loretto in the fall of 2026. Emma Sawich highlighted the 2025 season after she was named to the All-NEC second team and finished the regular season ranking second in NCAA Division I in saves (136). Diaz's first year as head coach saw the Red Flash double their win total from the previous season. The Red Flash went 6-9-3 and 4-5-1 in the NEC. Diaz led the Red Flash to a winning record on the road at 5-4-1. Diaz guided the Red Flash to their best defensive season since 2012. Allowed just 22 goals (1.22 goals against average) and had the best goals against average in the conference until the final matchday. Diaz's first season in the Saint Francis dugout saw Lauren Pyle earn an All-NEC first-team selection and Rory Schaeffer named All-NEC second-team selection. Under Diaz's tutelage, Alyssa Mella scored the most goals by a Saint Francis freshman since 2018 and Pyle score the third most goals by a Saint Francis player in a season since 2019. Diaz helped Sawich lead the conference in save percentage at .824 and make the most saves in a season by a Red Flash goalkeeper (98) since 2018. Sawich finished tied for 53rd in the nation for save percentage, tied for 30th in the nation in saves and saves per game (5.44) Diaz's squad totaled 18 NEC weekly awards and seven combined Player of the Week, Defensive Player of the Week and Rookie of the Week nods. With 23 years of experience as an assistant coach and head coach at the NCAA Division I and II level, Brian Diaz was named the women's soccer head coach in June 2024.    Diaz brings four years of head coach experience from the Division II level, 17 years as an assistant coach (13 years at Division I and four years at Division II), and one year as the Director of Coaching for the Columbus Crew SC in Major League Soccer. In his career, he has coached 54 all-conference selections and 21 all-region honorees.    Diaz comes to Loretto after a seven-year stint at Oakland University as a member of Juan Pablo Favero's staff. Diaz, who started as an assistant coach and elevated to associate head coach in 2020, helped the Grizzles to 40 wins, four Horizon League Tournament appearances, and the program's first Horizon League Championship Game appearance in six years in 2021. Oakland posted an 11-9-1 record in that season, with a 9-1-1 mark in league play. It had the most conference wins in program history; the 11 overall wins were the most since the 2012 campaign.    Before his time at Oakland, Diaz spent one year with the Columbus Crew SC in Major League Soccer as the Director of Coaching. He oversaw the coaching staff and curriculum development of the Crew's youth club ages 5-18.   He spent three seasons as the head coach of Upper Iowa (2013-15), guiding one of the two schools in the nation with the Peacocks moniker to a 33-21-8 overall record and a 28-15-2 mark in conference play. Among the players he coached were the Peacocks' all-time career-leading scorer and a goalkeeper who currently ranks second in career goals against average.    Diaz was an assistant coach at South Alabama for five seasons (2008-12) and helped the Jaguars to a 20-15-6 record in his last two seasons. The 12 wins in 2011 were the program's most wins since 2005. He recruited five players who combined for 10 all-conference honors and the 2014 Defensive Player of the Year award.   Before his time at South Alabama, Diaz was a member of Favero's staff for 2007 at Newberry, where he helped the team to an 8-5-6 record. Diaz was the head coach at Converse College for the 2006 campaign.   A 2002 graduate of Tusculum, Diaz started his coaching career as an assistant coach at East Tennessee State in 2002, where the team reached the conference tournament for the first time in program history before returning to his alma mater for three seasons (2003-05). The Pioneers went 41-15-4 in his three years as an assistant. In 2003, Tusculum won the SAC Tournament and advanced to the NCAA Division II Sweet 16, including beating No. 21 Carson-Newman 1-0 for the program's first-ever win in the NCAA Tournament match. The Pioneers won its second SAC Tournament title in 2005, returned to the NCAA Division II Tournament, and finished ranked No. 18 in the nation.    Diaz was a three-year letterwinner for the Tusculum men's soccer team and helped the Pioneers transition from NAIA to NCAA Division II. In his first season, the squad finished 10-9-2 and won its first SAC Tournament title after upsetting No. 6 Wingate 1-0 in the championship bout.    Diaz earned his bachelor of arts in sports management from Tusculum and a master of education in educational leadership from the University of South Alabama in 2012. He holds US Soccer A License and a United Soccer Coaches Premier Diploma.

Coach Dennis played collegiate soccer at the University of South Florida from 2017-2021, where she played in 86 matches and was a key member of two American Athletic Conference championship-winning teams in 2017 and 2019. She was named AAC All-Conference First Team in 2020 and 2021, United Soccer Coaches First Team All-Region in 2020 and 2021, and Co-Defensive Player of the Year in 2020. Dennis graduated with her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration/Management in 2021.  She spent the last year and a half as the Head Coach at Plantation Eagles FC in Sunrise, Fla. She worked with female players at the U-11 and U-12 levels.     Prior to her stint at Plantation Eagles FC, Dennis played professionally for Afturelding FC in the Besta Deild Kvenna, the top tier of women's soccer in Iceland. She started seven league matches for Afturelding.   Dennis has played for the Jamaican National Team at various levels. She earned two caps at the 2018 CONCACAF Women's U-20 Championship, and earned three caps for the senior national team at the 2018 CONCACAF Women's Gold Cup and helped the team qualify for the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup. Dennis also represented Jamaica at the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru.

Crossley will begin her second season in Loretto in the fall of 2026. Emma Sawich highlighted the 2025 season after she was named to the All-NEC second team and finished the regular season ranking second in NCAA Division I in saves (136). Crossley came to Loretto after serving as an assistant coach at fellow NEC member Mercyhurst last season. She also gained coaching experience as an assistant coach for the last two years with Erie FC at the high school level as an assistant coach and grades three to eight. A 2023 graduate of Pennsylvania Western University, she served as team captain for her last two seasons. A scholar-athlete all four years, she was voted as the team's Rookie of the Year (2019), Hustler of the Year (2022) and Team and Defensive MVP (2023).