Neighbor News
Storied Coach and Player Elyse Diamond Is New Coach for MCCC Women's Soccer
Diamond comes to MCCC after 25 years as Nottingham's women's soccer coach. She is eager to beginning coaching at the college level.
Elyse Diamond of Yardville will join the athletics staff at Mercer County Community College (MCCC) as head coach for women’s soccer. According to MCCC Athletics Director John Simone, Diamond has been part of the college’s athletics network for many years – as a long-time coach at Nottingham High School who saw many of her graduating players join the Mercer team, as the mother of two daughters who played at the college, most recently Katie Diamond, who completed her sophomore season with the Vikings in the fall, and as a 1984 alumna who played two years of Mercer soccer and still holds the record for most goals scored (118 in two seasons).
“We are very pleased to have Elyse on board. She has extensive coaching experience working with female athletes and fully understands the role of athletics within the college’s mission. She is a superstar in the soccer community,” Simone said.
Nine freshmen are expected to return next season and Diamond will be recruiting throughout the region for strong players to add to the roster so that the team is able to perform at a high level in every game.
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Diamond’s own success on the turf includes a year at Rutgers, where her scoring record was only recently broken by Carli Lloyd (of the U.S. Women’s National Team). Her record of 112 goals as a player at Hamilton High School West also still stands.
After earning her A.A. in Humanities and Social Science in 1984, Diamond transferred to Rutgers and then earned her bachelor’s degree in Health and Physical Education from The College of New Jersey (formerly Trenton State College). She has been a health and physical education teacher in the Hamilton School District for 28 years.
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Diamond will have a chance to get out on the field this spring, when the women’s soccer team will practice and play in several scrimmages. Practice for the Fall 2016 season gets under way in August. Diamond will be assisted by MCCC soccer alumni Lauren Sparano ’09 and Marissa Segal ’11. She takes over the position from Michelle Ogborn-Haywood, who served as head coach from 2011 to 2015.
