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Saint Peter's University

Saint Peter's University Athletics
 2641 John F. Kennedy Blvd. Jersey City, NJ 07306
Division 1 New Jersey Northeast
Private Small National competitor
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Coaches

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Julia Bazi

Julia Bazi enters her second season as the head coach of the women's soccer team in 2021-22, and was named the 11th head coach in the history of the women's soccer program in August of 2020.


Bazi led the Peacocks into an unprecedented season during the 2020-21 campaign, as the team geared up for a spring season in which it faced harsh weather and an abbreviated season which saw the Peacocks play only four games. While Bazi's first season was not ideal, she made the most of it with a short-handed roster, playing many the majority of games with only a handfull of reserves. The highlight of the season came in the team's Senior Day match against Iona on April 2, which saw the Peacocks score a season-high 2 goals, leading to an overtime bout with the Gaels. While Saint Peter's ultimately dropped the match, it showed the potential that Bazi and the team has for future seasons. Under Bazi's leadership, Saint Peter's placed 10 players to the 2020-21 MAAC Women's Soccer All-Academic Team.


Bazi, a former Olympian and two-time FIFA World Cup competitor with nine years of collegiate coaching experience – including a successful run over the past three years as head coach at the Fashion Institute of Technology – returns to Jersey City for her second stint with the program after originally spending two seasons as an assistant coach.


Bazi's arrival follows an immensely successful tenure over three seasons at FIT, a National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division III program in Manhattan that she turned from the get-go. In her first season (2017), Bazi led the Tigers to their winningest season in school history en route to being named the NJCAA Region XV Coach of the Year, the first such honoree for the program.


With FIT, Bazi led all aspects of the program, including recruiting, game day event operations, practice planning, budget management and travel while assisting with academic advising. Additional accolades included her leading the team to the conference finals in her first two seasons, marking the Tigers' first conference championship game appearances in nearly a decade. Other program firsts that Bavi helped produce included the school's first All-American and first conference Player of the Year.


Bazi has also enjoyed prior collegiate stints as an assistant at a number of NCAA Division I and II institutions. Before FIT, she helped Fairleigh Dickinson (Northeast Conference) win its second straight NEC Regular Season Title, first NEC Tournament Title and earn that program's first appearance in the NCAA Tournament during her three seasons with the Knights (2014-16). She initially made her first collegiate stop in the Garden State after spending 2012-13 as an assistant at Saint Peter's, where she was in charge of organizing and conducting all training sessions and managing the team's travel plans and recruiting efforts.


Prior to Saint Peter's, Bazi spent the 2010-12 seasons at five-time NCAA Division II national champion Franklin Pierce University as an assistant coach. While at FPU, she broke down game film, coordinated team budget and travel plans, oversaw recruiting efforts (both nationally and internationally) and developed personalized gym and one-on-one conditioning programs.


Before starting to coach in the collegiate circuit, Bazi served as a coach and recruiter for Upper 90, where she educated potential talent on the U.S. college experience and opportunities and conduct highlight strengths and weaknesses for potential players. She also was an assistant coach for the New York Red Bulls Youth Academy.


As a college player, Bazi won four conference championships and two national titles at Martin Methodist College (Tenn.), where she was a team captain and earned all-conference and All-America honors. She has been inducted into the Martin Methodist and Westfield Sports High Hall of Fames. Before college, she became the youngest player to represent the Australian National Team in the World Cup in 2000 and competed in the 2004 World Cup and Summer Olympics. She also played professionally after college in Iceland, Canada, Australia and the United States.

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Brett Axelrod

Brett Axelrod, a former assistant coach at LIU-Brooklyn and Fordham, starts his third season at Saint Peter’s in 2022 under head coach Julia Bazi. In conjunction with his position at Saint Peter's, Axelrod serves as a goalkeepers coach with Modern Goalkeeper Training Systems.


After a Covid-shortened season in 2020-2021, Axelrod helped lead the Peacocks to one of their best conference seasons in recent times in 2021. Saint Peter's won 3 MAAC games for only the second time since 1998 and had multiple all-conference honorees, including goalkeeper Annabelle Adams to the MAAC all-rookie team and defender Fatou Doucoure to the all-MAAC 2nd team. The team also placed 8 players on the MAAC all-Academic team and finished the year with a cumulative team GPA of 3.644.


During his three-year tenure at Fordham, Axelrod helped coach the Rams to a record of 32-18-11 over three seasons while also leading the team to their 2016 Atlantic 10 championship victory. Working primarily with the goalkeepers, he coached Rashid Nuhu, who earned Second Team All-Atlantic 10 honors and captured the Atlantic 10 Championship's Most Outstanding Player Award.


In 2017, Axelrod was a part of a run to the NCAA quarterfinals and a #11 national ranking in the United Soccer Coaches poll. Fordham finished the year with a school record 14 wins, posted two wins over nationally-ranked opponents, recorded its first two NCAA tournament wins over St. Francis Brooklyn and #11 seed Virginia, and advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals following an exciting penalty kick shootout win at #6 seed Duke, before falling to #3 seed North Carolina. In goal, Nuhu picked up First Team All-Atlantic 10 and All-ECAC honors, as well as USC All-Midwest Region Second Team accolades.


Axelrod spent the 2014 and 2015 season in Brooklyn, serving as an assistant coach at LIU where he worked primarily with goalkeepers. He helped the Blackbirds win the 2015 NEC Championship as LIU finished the regular season was a perfect 7-0 mark, ranking second in the conference in goals against average.


A four-year letter winner at Whitman College, where he also coached from 2009 to 2011, Axelrod received a degree in Sociology from the school in 2009.


Axelrod was a four-year starter in goal for Whitman, and was named the Northwest Conference Defensive Player of the Year in 2008, after leading the team to an 11-2-7 record with 10 shutouts. During his senior season with the Blues, Axelrod ranked Top 5 nationally in both save percentage and goals against average. He was also the recipient of the Borleske Trophy, presented annually to the top male athlete at Whitman.


After graduating, Axelrod was an assistant coach for both the men’s and women’s varsity soccer teams at his alma mater. He also served as the Executive Director of the Helena Youth Soccer Association in Helena, Montana.


Axelrod holds a USSF National “C” coaching license and a Level 3 Goalkeepers certificate from the United Soccer Coaches. He has also attained a M.S. in HR Management from Stony Brook University.

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Iudy De Arujos Lopes

Assistant coach Iudy De Arujos Lopes starts his second season in Jersey City under head coach Julia Bazi. Lopes arrives in the Garden State following a stint with Union University in Jackson, Tennessee.


While with the Bulldogs, Lopes played his final season in 2019 before being brought on as a graduate assistant for the men's soccer team. While on staff, Lopes was responsible for planning, assisting with, and directing practice sessions for all 23 members of Union's Division II program. Prior to his time in in Tennessee, Lopes played three season at Sacred Heart University, where he logged 31 starts in 51 appearances.


Lopes earned a B.S. in sports management while attending Sacred Heart and furthered his education at Union, obtaining his M.B.A. while attending the university. Additionally, he holds a USSF National "C" coaching license.

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