After seven years of building the Eastern Kentucky University women’s soccer program from the ground up, Lindsay Basalyga enters her eighth season as head coach having firmly entrenched the Colonels into the upper echelon of the Ohio Valley Conference.
Hired as the program’s inaugural head coach in 2005, Basalyga has led Eastern Kentucky soccer since its infancy. Following three years of a rocky assimilation into Division I soccer, the Colonels turned the corner in 2008 when Basalyga led the team to a 5-3 conference record and a No. 2 seed in their first-ever appearance in the OVC Tournament. EKU now enters 2012 having finished as conference runner-up two of the last four years and as one of only three teams to finish in the top-six in the regular season conference standings each of the last four years, a testament to the program’s consistent spot near the top of the OVC.
The Colonels’ success over the last four seasons has been legitimized by weekly and postseason recognition. In just six years, Basalyga has coached 20 All-OVC performers, including senior defender Deja Tennon and junior defender Lauren Fant, who earned second team All-OVC honors in 2011, and sophomore defender Paige Larkin, who earned OVC All-Newcomer honors in 2011. All three were part of a formidable Colonel backline that did not allow multiple goals in any of EKU’s last 12 regular season games.
That defense, combined with a young, opportunistic offense (all of EKU’s 18 goals were scored by sophomores and freshmen in 2011) and a stellar recruiting class make it clear that the pieces are in place for EKU soccer to enjoy long term success, and expectations are on the rise heading into the 2012 campaign.
"Even though we are entering our seventh season, we are still a very young program relative to the rest of the country,” Basalyga said. “Every season our expectations rise in terms of what we are asking of our athletes, both on and off the field. We have more depth than we have ever had in every position and there is a lot of pressure to perform in training on a consistent basis - this is how it's supposed to be. There are a lot of players who should be playing and could be playing, but playing time will come down to who is willing to consistently put in the work on the defensive side of the ball, who is able to keep the ball, and who is going to give us the best chance to win soccer games."
On top of their on-field accolades, Basalyga’s teams at EKU have also thrived off the field. In 2010, Basalyga was bestowed with EKU’s prestigious Coaches Academic Enhancement Award for the second consecutive year, given annually to the coach who most honors their commitment to recruiting dedicated student -athletes and placing a high emphasis on academics within their program. Since she started the Colonel soccer program in 2005, Basalyga has coached three OVC Medal of Honor Winners, seven Chi Alpha Sigma Honor Society inductees, over 30 Presidential Scholars and over 50 Colonel Scholars.
The Basalyga-led Colonels were also awarded the coveted OVC Team Sportsmanship award for soccer from 2006-10, the first five years of the award's existence
“It is a huge honor to be recognized by OVC players and coaches with the Sportsmanship Award for five consecutive years,” Basalyga said. “I am certainly proud of how our players continue to represent themselves and the university in a competitive, yet professional, manner in and out of the conference.”
Basalyga’s fresh, innovative take on coaching soccer extends to recruiting as well, where she looks for players who want to be a part of an exciting program on the rise. Because she is looking for a certain type of player, Basalyga allows current Colonels to be very involved in the recruiting process and voice their opinions about whether or not a prospective recruit would fit in the system.
“It’s my job, as head coach, to project whether or not a player fits into our system on the field,” Basalyga said. “Once they arrive on campus, however, it’s the player’s job to close the deal.”
Prior to EKU, Basalyga spent four years working with the University of Toledo women’s soccer team. Basalyga joined the Rockets’ staff in 2001 as a graduate assistant and, two years later, was promoted to the top assistant position. While at Toledo, Basalyga aided in all aspects of the program, gaining experience in field coaching, implementing of practice plans and recruiting. The Rockets’ 2004 recruiting class was nationally recognized, ranking 14th in the Great Lakes Region.
A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, Basalyga was a standout soccer player at Turpin High School and then the University of Maryland, where she helped the Terrapins advance to the NCAA College Cup in four consecutive seasons. A three-year starter at Maryland, Basalyga tallied eight goals, nine assists and 25 points throughout her career. During her senior campaign, she set the school record for most goals (four) and most points (nine) in an NCAA Tournament.
Basalyga is the daughter of John and Linda Basalyga, and she has two younger siblings, brother Ryan (30) and sister Courtney (28). She touts a proven pedigree, as her father, John, is beginning his 10th season as the men’s soccer coach at Northern Kentucky University, where he led the Norse to an NCAA Division II National Championship in 2010.
Basalyga received her bachelor’s degree in art studio from Maryland in 2001 and later earned a master’s degree in recreation and leisure studies from Toledo.
