Conner Golley Joins Oregon State Women's Soccer Coaching Staff

Following the departure of Assistant Coach Paige Brandt in the offseason, the Oregon State Women's Soccer had a hole in their coaching staff. They finally filled the job on Tuesday, announcing the hire of Conner Golley as the team's Assistant Head Coach.

Golley comes to the Beavers from the University of Rhode Island, where he was also the assistant coach for the Rams. With Rhode Island Golley was focused on the defensive side of the game. Last season the Rams held opponents to 0.8 goals per game, including 12 shutouts. The Rams fell just short of making the NCAA Tournament last season, falling to Dayton in penalty kicks in the Atlantic 10 Tournament Championship.

Prior to coaching for Rhode Island, Golley was an assistant with both the men's and women's teams at St. Bonaventure, working with men's goalkeeper Jules Dechert and women's goalkeeper Chiara Gottinger. Before that, he was a player for Gannon University, a Division II school.

Golley should fill a similar role Brandt did in her time in Corvallis. In her one year with the Beavers, Brandt worked closely with goalkeeper Mya Sanchez, leading to her earning an All-WCC Honorable Mention in a 101 save season.

With Sanchez graduated and Brandt taking a job with the Washington Huskies, Oregon State's goalkeeping is going to be a work in progress. The Beavers have four goalkeepers on their roster, but due to how rock solid Sanchez has been in net, none of them have gotten any time on the field yet.

Last season was a rough one for the Oregon State women, who finished the year with a 2-12-5 overall record and a last place finish in the West Coast Conference. Early in the season goalkeeping seemed like a team strength, but as the year went on the team struggled.

That included a pair of games where the team allowed six goals to WCC opponents, Pepperdine on September 24th and Seattle on November 1st. After ending the year with three straight losses where they allowed at least three goals, the Beavers finished last in the conference in goals allowed, with 39 over the course of the season.

Figuring out just how the defense fell apart, and what can be done to fix it, is going to be Golley's biggest job as he arrives in Corvallis. The Beavers haven't made the NCAA Tournament field since 2011, and it feels like the team is still far away from returning to the postseason, so there's work to be done.

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