Mark Stauffer ‘97 is in his 25th year as the head women’s soccer coach at Misericordia University.
He led the Cougars to a 19-2-2 overall record, an undefeated 7-0 record in the MAC Freedom and their fourth-straight MAC Freedom title in 2024. MU capped off their season with a trip to the third round of the NCAA Tournament.
The Cougars appeared in all nine of the weekly USC Top 25 national polls, ranking as highly as third.
The Cougars had seven players earn All-MAC Freedom honors and claimed a pair of yearly awards: Offensive Player of the Year, Julia Beck, as well as Co-Defensive Player of the Year, Brenna Field. Beck was also named to the CSC All-America team
Coach Stauffer is an eight-time MAC Freedom/PAC Coach of the Year, three-time ECAC Coach of the Year, and has been recognized by the USC/NCAA three times.
Stauffer put the MU women’s soccer program on the national map in 2012 by leading the Cougars to a 20-3-2 record, a MAC Freedom title and a trip to the NCAA Final Four. He was named the 2012 NSCAA National Coach of the Year as well as the NSCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional Coach of the Year.
He owns a career record of 359-121-29 and ranks 15th among active D-III coaches in victories and 21st in winning percentage (.725). The Cougars have earned 17 NCAA Tournament berths during his tenure.
Stauffer has coached 28 USC/NSCAA All-America selections, 64 All-Region selections, 170 all-conference selections, 22 conference Players of the Year and 11 conference Rookies of the Year.
In addition, he has had multiple players earn Academic All-Region honors, eight Scholar-All-Americans and one CoSIDA/Capital One Academic All-American.
He holds his USC/NSCAA premier coaching diploma and is a regional staff coach for the USC/NSCAA.
During his playing career, he was a two-time PAC all-star and led the Cougars to three appearances in the PAC championship match, including a PAC title in 1996. He ranks among Misericordia’s all-time leaders in five categories, including career points, goals and assists and single-season points and goals.
