July 18, 2007
George Mason women's soccer coach Diane Drake has announced the addition of two new staff members to her coaching staff as the program prepares for the 2007 season. Michael Needham has been hired as an assistant coach, replacing Danielle LaRoche, who left to become the head coach at Cornell. Anabel Jimenez will also join the coaching staff as a volunteer coach.
Needham comes to Mason after spending to seasons as an assistant coach at University of Nevada, Las Vegas. During that time, UNLV made a pair of NCAA Tournament Appearances and won the Mountain West Conference title both seasons. Eight players were named to the All-Mountain West team. Prior to UNLV, Needham was an assistant for three seasons at Drury University. He also spent two seasons as an assistant at Rhode Island and one year as a volunteer assistant at Connecticut College working with the men's soccer team.
Needham also has extensive experience coaching outside the collegiate ranks. He works with the Region IV Olympic Development Program as a staff coach and prior to that he was with the Nevada Olympic Development Program as a head coach. He works with the Nuesport football club in Las Vegas and he spent time at the United Soccer Academy in Delray Beach, Fla. as the Director of Coaching. In addition, he was Director of Player Development for Lake Country Soccer, Inc. in Springfield, Missouri, Senior Coach/Supervisor at the Goal 4Rams Soccer Camp in Kington, R.I. and a high school coach for boy's soccer in Boca Raton, Fla.
"I am very excited to have found Michael Needham," Drake said. "He is one of the top assistants in the country. His commitment to excellence is in line with the culture of our program. He was a major factor in UNLV's recruiting and NCAA success."
Needham earned a bachelor's degree in exercise science from Rhode Island and a master's degree in physical education from Drury. He has a USSF 'A' License, a NSCAA 'Premier Diploma' in addition to an NSCAA 'Advanced National, with Distinction Diploma', and a USSF National Youth License.
Jimenez is a native of the Washington D.C. area. She played four years of high school soccer at Bullis High School in Potomac, Md. and was named All-Met before matriculating to American University where she was a four-year starter and two-year captain. In 2002 and 2003, she was named All-Patriot League and she was selected team MVP both seasons. She played club soccer for the Bethesda Scorpions, winning seven state titles. She also played two years for the Free State United. She was a member of the Olympic Development Program for seven years and was selected to Regional Camp each year. Her team was finished second at Nationals in 1998.
After American, she played semi-professional for the Maryland Pride and Northern Virginia Majestics and professionally for the VFL-Wolfsburg team in Germany. She is currently in her second season as a member of the Washington Freedom and she coaches the WAGS Bethesda Renegades and the Classic MSI Renegades, both U-14 girls teams.
"I am thrilled to have Anabel with us," Drake said. "She is a fantastic player and a great role model. She will be responsible in large part for individual player development."
Needham and Jimenez join Nick Carlin-Voight who was hired after the 2006 season. Carlin-Voight will work with the goalkeepers on both the men's and women's teams.
The 2007 season opens for the Patriots on August 31 when Mason takes on Rider in Hartford, Conn. Prior to that the Patriots will play a pair of road exhibition games, one at Loyola (Md.) on August 21 and one at Penn on Auguest 26.
