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Patrick Baker
Patrick Baker was named head coach of the Florida Atlantic University women’s soccer program in February 2013 after successful stints at NCAA Division I, II and III institutions. Baker is the fifth head coach in the program’s 22-year history.
Baker directed his Owls to 11 wins and a run to the Conference USA Championship game in the 2022 season. The Owls made their eighth straight appearance in the C-USA Tournament, and took the title game into double overtime, getting just edged out by UTSA.
The 11 wins and championship game appearance each marked the first time the program has accomplished those feats since the 2019 season. Baker coached Gi Krstec to Conference USA Midfielder of the Year honors, the first major award winner for the Owls since the '19 campaign as well. Krstec, Bri Austin and Amanda Martin were all named to the United Soccer Coaches All-South Region teams.
In the 2021 season, Baker led the Owls to their seventh consecutive appearance in the Conference USA Championship Tournament. The Owls topped Charlotte in penalty kicks to advance to the quarterfinal round.
Baker coached three of his student-athletes to United Soccer Coaches All-South Region honors. Amanda Martin and Gi Krstec tallied Second Team All-South Region recognition, and Miracle Porter earned the Third Team honors. That trio also earned All-Conference USA honors, with Porter and Krstec taking home First Team honors and Martin being named to the second team. Jodi Smith was named to the Conference USA All-Freshman team.
For the sixth straight year, the Owls earned the United Soccer Coaches All-Academic award. Emma Grissom extended the Owls' streak of having at least one student-athlete earn Conference USA All-Academic honors to nine years.
The 2020-21 academic year was affected by many things, and soccer was no exception. Due to the global pandemic, the regularly-scheduled fall campaign was postponed until the spring, and practices and matches were often altered even with the season’s change.
Despite all of this, and a difficult start to the season, the Owls hit their stride in conference play, finishing just one point out of the Conference USA East Division lead with a 4-1-1 record, earning the division’s second seed. The season would finish as the program’s sixth winning campaign in a row, and include the team’s sixth consecutive appearance at the postseason C-USA Championship.
Four team members earned All-C-USA accolades, First Teamer Gi Krstec, two Second Team honorees in Amanda Martin and Miracle Porter, and Sammy Vitols voted Third Team. Those four also were tabbed All-Region by United Soccer Coaches, with Krstec and Martin chosen Second Team, and Porter and Vitols Third.
The team’s net tandem of Cassidy Wasdin and Amit Cohen each earned C-USA weekly honors as Goalkeeper of the Week. Cohen gained C-USA All-Freshman recognition as well, while Wasdin extended the program’s streak of eight straight years with a C-USA All-Academic honoree. Once more, the program as a whole made it five years in a row earning the United Soccer Coaches Team Academic Award.
In 2019, Baker finished his seventh season at the helm of the program by once again leading the team to the Conference USA regular season title, with an 8-1-1 league mark for the second straight year. The squad posted its third-highest total of wins in history, a 15-4-2 mark (trailing only 16 wins achieved in 2003 and 2005).
For the team’s efforts, Baker earned his second straight C-USA Coach of the Year award, and was joined superlatively by Midfielder of the Year Mary O’Hara and co-Freshman of the Year Luisa Daikeler. O’Hara, Pernille Velta and Alex Maxson were All-Conference First Team members; Cassidy Wasdin was Second Team and All-Freshman; Daikeler was Third Team and All-Freshman.
Four Owls earned All-Region notoriety by United Soccer Coaches as well, with O’Hara being voted First Team, and Velta, Maxson and Daikeler to the Second Team. Maxson was chosen United Soccer Coaches Scholar All-Region and First Team C-USA All-Academic.
The 2018 campaign saw Baker took the Owls to heights not seen for over a decade. After a tough non-conference schedule, the team more than righted itself in C-USA play, rolling to an 8-1-1 mark (the fourth-most conference wins in program history) and a share of the league’s regular season title. Overall on their home pitch, the team went 7-1-1 with a 4-0-1 conference record, and the squad advanced to the C-USA semis, marking the third straight season at at least that plateau.
A fourth straight winning season, at 12-8-1 overall, earned Baker his second C-USA Coach of the Year award and six of his players were voted to the All-Conference squad: Two First Teamers, defender Ebba Blomqvist and midfielder Mary O’Hara; one Second Teamer, goalkeeper Jennifer Ocampo; two on the Third Team in forward Elisha Holmes and defender Alex Maxson; and another defender, Hailey Landrus, on the All-Freshman team.
The success continued in the classroom as well, with two players honored as First Team C-USA All-Academic members, in Blomqvist and Maxson.
In 2017, an 11-8-2 record and third consecutive winning season - a plateau that hadn’t been reached since 2004-06 - led to the team’s third straight C-USA postseason appearance, hosted on campus in Boca Raton. An overtime golden goal in the tournament opener gave the Owls a berth in the championship’s semifinal round.
The team finished above .500 in league play as well, and were just one of just four league teams to have a better-than-.500 record in 2015, 2016 and 2017. Four team members earned All-C-USA honors: Blomqvist (First Team), Asta Arnadottir (Second Team), Holmes (Third Team) and Ashlyn Kitterman (All-Freshman), and Blomqvist and Arnadottir were also recognized as United Soccer Coaches All-South Region, named to the Second Team and Third Team, respectively.
Off the pitch, the Owls earned the United Soccer Coaches’ College Team Academic Award, and Maxson was voted C-USA All-Academic. Following the year, the team said goodbye to seven seniors, and four of those - Arnadottir, Madison Caldwell, Alex Mastrobuono and Maddie Pung - combined to reach 40 victories in their collegiate career.
In 2016, Baker led the team to their best finish in over 10 years, advancing all the way to the C-USA Tournament final match. The Owls ended the year 12-8-2 while going 6-3-1 in league play to earn the No. 4 seed. They upended the regular season champions, North Texas, in the semifinal round, but fell to Charlotte in the finals. The 12-8-2 record marked the first time the program posted consecutive winning seasons since 2006-07, and the first time they had 10 or more wins in back-to-back years since 2005-06.
Eight members of the team earned C-USA postseason honors, including Goalkeeper of the Year Sydney Drinkwater. After a year where she led the league in shutouts (and broke the program’s all-time record in that category) she was also chosen as a First Team member of the NSCAA All-Central Region Team, joined by fellow selections Erica Burt (Second Team) and Sammy Rowland (Third Team).
The 2015 campaign saw Baker named Co-Conference Coach of the Year following a successful season in which the Owls finished third in the C-USA standings. Five of his players earned All-C-USA honors, including First Team defender Burt, while Burt and Claire Emslie were chosen as NSCAA All-Central Region. The squad was 12-8-1 overall, 6-3-1 in the conference, and pitched shutouts each of the last six regular season matches.
The year prior, in his second season atop the program, Baker’s defense made waves around the conference as the squad allowed multiple goals in just five matches throughout the season. The Owls posted eight shutouts en route to a 7-9-4 season which featured a whopping 10 overtime games. In his first season at the helm in 2013, Baker’s team came on strong at the end, winning back-to-back games to close out a 5-10-4 mark on the year. The Owls tied an NCAA record with four 0-0 draws.
Baker brought with him a winning pedigree to FAU, being the only women’s soccer coach in NCAA history to take a team to the Division I, II and III postseason tournaments. He was named the 2003 National Coach of the Year by Soccer America, amassed an 80-46-11 record prior to FAU, and had one team advance to the NCAA Division I Final Four. His teams had 18 wins over ranked opponents, including six victories over top 10 teams.
Baker’s NCAA Division I coaching career started at Pennsylvania in the Ivy League for four years, then six years at Florida State of the Atlantic Coast Conference and five years at Georgia of the Southeastern Conference (SEC).
Five of Baker’s six Florida State teams qualified for the NCAA tournament, and the Seminoles made three Sweet 16 appearances and advanced to the 2003 Final Four. He is the only coach in Georgia program history to take three straight teams to the NCAA women’s soccer tournament. His 2007 Bulldogs’ team had the best record in school history (18-4-2) and posted an 8-1-2 mark in SEC play. In 2009, Baker helped guide Georgia to a No. 20 national ranking.
Before FAU, Baker spent the previous two years at California-Berkeley, helping the Bears advance to the second round of the NCAA tournament in both seasons. He was the program’s recruiting coordinator and helped attract PAC-12 Freshman of the Year Ifeoma Onumonu. Additionally, he had previously been head coach at Rollins College (NCAA Division II) in 2010 and North Carolina Wesleyan College (Division III) from 1989-1994.
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