Michael Casper enters his eighth season as head coach, and 12th season overall, with the Red Flash men’s soccer team in 2014-15.
In 2011, the Red Flash finished the year in fifth place in the Northeast Conference, one spot out of qualifying for the postseason tournament. In the last game of the season, having recently learned that the team’s playoff hopes had faded, Casper led his squad to a 1-0 overtime victory against conference rival Robert Morris. Saint Francis’ defense was strong all season, shutting out opponents 11 times, which ranked in the top-10 nationally.
Under the guidance of Casper, two men’s soccer players were named to the NSCAA All-Region team, with James Price earning first-team honors, and Wayne Tiller being named to the third team. In addition to their on-field success, Casper’s squad performed remarkably in the classroom. Their hard work was honored with the NSCAA College Team Academic Award, as well as having 14 players named to the NEC 2011 Fall Academic Honor Roll.
The previous year, Casper brought together an experienced team to lead them to the Northeast Conference championship match for the first time since 2007, and one step away from the school’s coveted first appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
Entering the conference tournament as the third seed, Casper and his squad knocked off second seeded Sacred Heart with a thrilling 2-1 overtime victory to propel them into the championship match. One goal is all that separated the Red Flash from a conference title, as nationally-ranked Monmouth served up a second-half goal to seal their second-consecutive conference tournament win.
Prior to his appointment as Saint Francis’ sixth head coach, Casper served four seasons as an assistant under mentor B.J. Craig. Together, Casper and Craig laid the foundation for the success the Red Flash have enjoyed over the past eight seasons, which includes a combined record of 34-28-12 in Northeast Conference play and multiple trips to the NEC championship match.
During his nine-year tenure in Loretto, Casper has overseen the development of 12 all-Northeast Conference players, 12 NSCAA All-Region players, one NEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year, five ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District honorees and three ESPN The Magazine Academic All-Americans.
Furthermore, he has had nine different players named to the NEC All-Tournament Team, 80 players named to the NEC Academic Honor Roll, and two of his last five teams have received the NEC Team Grade-Point-Average Award for having the highest team GPA among all men’s soccer teams in the 11-team league.
In addition to those honors, Casper led his team to the first NEC Sportsmanship Award under his direction after wrapping up a highly successful 2010 campaign. The accolades received by Saint Francis’ men’s soccer players over the past eight seasons are unprecedented in the program’s history.
Casper and his team will look to keep the strong play alive this season, and return to the form of a few years prior, where the Red Flash achieved a .500-or-better record for four consecutive seasons, best in the program’s history.
Prior to taking over the head coaching position, Casper spent four seasons as an assistant coach in charge of the team’s goalkeepers. He coached former Red Flash goalkeeper Bobby Pipech to a school-record 15 career shutouts and a 1.31 goals-against-average, also a school record. The goalkeeper who replaced Pipech, Brad Williams, has since broken the shutout record.
Pipech’s .774 career save percentage is also second in school annals. Williams tied Pipech’s single-season school record of seven shutouts in 2006, and broke his former mentor’s school record with a 0.76 goals against average as a first-year starter that season.
Williams then bested his shutout record in 2007 with eight shutouts to tie the all-time school record of 15.
A four-year member of the UMBC men’s soccer team, Casper helped lead the Retrievers to a Northeast Conference championship in 1999. During Casper's four-year career at UMBC, the Retrievers posted a composite record of 54-19-11 (30-7-3 NEC).
Following his collegiate career, Casper served as head junior varsity and assistant varsity coach at Timothy Christian High School (NJ) for two seasons (2001-02). In 2000, Casper served as head coach of the Central Jersey Riptide in the Professional Development League.
He holds an A License from the United States Soccer Federation and an advanced regional diploma from the National Soccer Coaches Association of America.
Casper received his master’s degree in Education Leadership from Saint Francis in 2005 and is a 2000 graduate of UMBC with a bachelor’s degree in psychology.
