University of Wisconsin, River Falls Men's Soccer

Evan Sassano was hired as the UW-River Falls Men's Soccer inaugural head coach in 2023. During UWRF's inaugural 2024 season, Sassano led the Falcons to eight wins, including a WIAC Tournament first-round victory. In UWRF's season opener, the Falcons captured a 3-1 victrory over Crown College at Ramer Field to secure the program's first win. Later in the season, UWRF earned its first WIAC victory, defeating UW-Whitewater 3-1 at Ramer Soccer Stadium. Under Sassano, the Falcons totaled four first-team All-WIAC recipients, including freshman Landon Christiansen earning WIAC Newcomer of the Year. Sassano joined UW-River Falls after three seasons as the lead assistant coach at the University of St. Thomas. The Tommies, who transitioned from Division III to Division I in 2021, becoming the first ever Division I men's soccer program in Minnesota, closed out its first season at the DI level winning their final three games of the season, and followed up with a pair of shutout wins and two draws against nationally ranked opponents in 2022. Serving as the lead recruiter for the Tommies, Sassano brought in a pair of All-Summit League performers to UST. Before St. Thomas, Sassano was the head coach at Division II Holy Names University in Oakland, Calif., from 2018-21, leading HNU to the program's most wins in its history during his final season there. Sassano also has previous experience as an assistant coach at both San Francisco State University and his alma mater, University of California at Berkeley. He helped guide San Francisco State to the program's first playoff berth in 39 years, and UC Berkeley to the nation's top-ranking in NCAA Division I and an NCAA Tournament Elite Eight finish. A California native and 2011 graduate of the University of California at Berkeley, Sassano was a four-year starting defender for the Golden Bears, contributing to a pair of Pac-12 Conference Championships. After his collegiate career, he played professionally overseas in Germany and the Netherlands, as well as in the United States for the Minnesota Stars of the North American Soccer League.  

River Falls Mens Assistant  Mahtomedi High School Boys Head Coach  St.Croix ECNL 

Bret Day joined the UW-River Falls men's soccer program as an assistant coach in the fall of 2024. He has previous collegiate coaching experience as a volunteer assistant at Division I University of St. Thomas during the 2021 season. For the past two years, he has been the head boys' soccer coach at Benilde St. Margaret's Senior High, where he and his staff accumulated a 21-10-4 record during his tenure.   Day has been coaching in the Minnesota club scene for 13 years at Fusion SC, Tonka Fusion Elite (TFE), and the St. Paul Blackhawks. Bret is one of the original coaches at TFE, having coached there from 2017-25. As of July 2025, he accepted a position with the St. Paul Blackhawks as the head coach of the three MLS Next II teams, the 2009, 2010, and 2013 birth years. His club accomplishments include four Minnesota State Cup titles and a NPL National Championship in 2023. He also operated a soccer training facility for seven years which he recently moved on from to focus on club and collegiate coaching.        As a three-sport athlete, Bret grew up in the western suburbs of Minneapolis, Minn. He played club soccer for Wings SC and Minnesota Thunder Academy along with being a three-year starter for Wayzata High School where he captained his senior year. As a defender, most of his high school and club career, he attended the University of St. Thomas from 2009-12, where he accumulated nine goals and six assists as a versatile edge player over his four-year career. He obtained a degree in Business Administration with a focus in Leadership and Management. Bret holds a USSF B coaching license.   He lives in Maple Grove, Minn., with his wife Rachel.