Stanford University women’s soccer hires Margueritte Aozasa as assistant coach

STANFORD, Calif. (Via Stanford University) – Margueritte Aozasa has been named assistant coach for the Stanford women’s soccer program, head coach Paul Ratcliffe announced.

Aozasa, who grew up in nearby Mountain View, starred at Los Altos High School and was a four-year starter at Santa Clara University. She replaces Nicole Van Dyke, who was named head coach at University of Pennsylvania. Aozasa has been coaching with the Mountain View-Los Altos Soccer Club – a club she represented as a player – for the past six years.

“Margueritte’s an incredible person,” Ratcliffe said. “She has great integrity, she’s a hard worker. She was someone I always believed had the qualities to be a good coach in the future. Technically, she was a really solid player and always had a strong level of intelligence with her decision-making. She’ll be a great addition to our staff.”

Aozasa, who earned West Coast Conference All-Academic honors in college, was happy to join such a high-level environment.

“The opportunity to be here is absolutely amazing,” Aozasa said. “I’ll be surrounded by so many people that I can learn from. As for what I have to offer, I coach very similarly to how I played soccer. I bring an intensity, a passion to the game. At the same time, I bring a curiosity and respect for the game, and an understanding that I have so much to learn.”

As a player, Aozasa began her association at MVLA at age 10 and helped the MVLA Mercury to three State Cup titles and to three regional title matches. She describes Albertin Montoya, her MVLA coach and now the club’s technical director, as her mentor. Montoya also served as a Stanford volunteer assistant under Ratcliffe.

“Albertin really preaches a style that fosters creativity, but at the same time, there’s a lot of purpose behind it,” Aozasa said. “Albertin and Paul understand that possession is done with a purpose and the purpose is to create opportunities, and to use that flair and creativity to create dangerous chances.”

Montoya and Ratcliffe share many of the same coaching philosophies in terms of style and stress skillful play. Those are areas that Aozasa developed as a player and have passed along as a coach.

Aozasa played a midfield role in club that allowed her the freedom to play offensively and defensively. At Santa Clara, where she played from 2008-11, she split positions between midfield and center back, a spot that allowed her to take advantage to her ability to read the field. She graduated from SCU in 2012 with a major in psychology and minors in public health and Spanish.