Xavier stays in-house for vacant head coach position, appointing Katy Etelman

CINCINNATI – Xavier Athletics announced the promotion of Katy Etelman to head coach of Xavier women’s soccer. Etelman, the 10th head coach in program history, came to Xavier as an assistant coach in August 2021 and has held the title of associate head coach since November 2023.

“Katy has been a major part of our success since joining the program as an assistant in 2021, helping elevate Xavier to become one of the most consistently successful women’s soccer programs in the country over the past five seasons,” said Greg Christopher, Harmon Family Vice President and Director of Athletics. “Her passion for our program, and her vision for Xavier women’s soccer in the future made her the clear choice to take over as our new head coach.”

Since joining Xavier’s staff, Etelman has helped lead the Musketeers to 75 wins, two BIG EAST Regular Season Championships, a BIG EAST Tournament title, and four bids to the NCAA Championships in the last five seasons.  Xavier’s 75 wins is the seventh most in Division I over that span.

“Katy brings proven competitive success, strong leadership, and a genuine commitment to student‑athletes,” said Brian Hicks, Xavier’s Senior Associate Athletics Director for External Relations. “She’s contributed to 75 wins at Xavier over the past five years and has excelled at every step of her playing and coaching career. Just as importantly, she’s helped build a team culture grounded in togetherness and excellence. We’re thrilled to have her leading our program.”

“I am incredibly honored and humbled by this promotion,” said Etelman. “I want to thank Greg Christopher and Brian Hicks for their support and belief in me to be the next head coach of the women’s soccer program at Xavier University. More than anything, I want to thank our current and former student-athletes who established a championship standard. Their trust, hard work, and willingness to be coached are what truly give me the confidence to step into this new role. I look forward to continuing our journey together to build something even greater!”

In the last two seasons, as part of Dean Ward’s staff, Etelman helped lead the Musketeers to 31 wins, the most wins in a two-year period in program history. During that time, Xavier earned four All-American honors, five BIG EAST postseason awards, and 15 total All-BIG EAST selections

The 2025 Musketeers won the program’s second BIG EAST Tournament Championship title, earning the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Championship, and advanced to the second round for the third time in program history. Xavier set a new program record with a 15-match unbeaten streak during the 2025 campaign, going 13-0-2 during that stretch. The Musketeer offense set a new single season program record with 71 goals in 2025, also setting program records for total points at 210, and total assists at 68.

In 2024, Etelman helped lead Xavier to a 15-4-2 overall record, with a 7-2-1 record in BIG EAST play, earning the No. 2 seed in the BIG EAST Championship.

The 2023 Musketeers, under then head coach Nate Lie, earned a share of the BIG EAST regular season title, the program’s second in three years, and the league tournament’s No. 1 seed, earning a bye to the semifinals. The Musketeers spent most of the 2023 season ranked in the United Soccer Coaches Poll and earned a 4-seed in the NCAA Championship.

In 2022, Xavier finished with unbeaten BIG EAST regular season record for the first time in program history and earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Championship for a second-straight season. Xavier advanced in the NCAA Tournament for the second time in program history, topping Tennessee, 4-1, in the first round.

The 2021 Musketeers won the BIG EAST Regular season title, earning the program’s best rankings in the USC Poll (No. 11) and the RPI (No. 7) during the season. Xavier earned the program’s first at-large bid and home match in the NCAA Tournament after finishing runners-up in the BIG EAST Tournament.

While in Cincinnati, Etelman has also worked for ECNL club Ohio Elite Soccer Academy as a head coach and most recently an assistant coach.

Etelman came to Xavier from Ball State where she spent three seasons after joining the staff in March 2018 and helped guide the Cardinals to an overall record of 35-11-4 (23-6-2 MAC) and two of the program’s three all-time appearances in the MAC Championship during her time there.

Etelman helped coach 11 All-MAC selections and eight all-region choices at BSU, including a program-record four all-region performers in 2020-21. The Cardinals had 35 Academic All-MAC selections during her time in Muncie, and Tatiana Mason and Lexy Smith became the program’s first United Soccer Coaches Scholar All-Americans in 2020-21.

Etelman coached at Ohio State and her alma mater, Miami (Ohio), prior to her time at Ball State and also has experience coaching at both the high school level, at Muncie Central High School, and on the club level, as part of the Ohio Olympic Development Program and the Braves Soccer Academy in Oxford, Ohio.

As a player, the former Katy Dolesh was a four-time All-Mid-American Conference player for the Miami RedHawks, where she played for then-assistant coach Nate Lie. A center midfielder at Miami from 2010-13, Etelman was a second-team all-conference selection during her freshman season and a first-team choice in each of her final three years.

She finished with 31 goals and 16 assists for her career, earning NSCAA All-Region honors as a junior and senior. During her junior season in 2012, she led Miami to a school-record 20 wins, the MAC regular season and tournament championships, a top-25 national ranking and a victory over No. 20 Tennessee in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

She earned her Bachelor’s degree in health promotion (2014) and a Master’s in sport leadership (2015), both from Miami’s department of Kinesiology and Health.