April 5, 2007
SAN DIEGO -
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San Diego State Director of Athletics Jeff Schemmel announced the hiring Thursday of Mike Friesen as head women's soccer coach. Friesen has spent the last three seasons as a member of the Aztec coaching staff, having been promoted from assistant to associate head coach in July 2005. He replaces Mike Giuliano, who resigned in January to become the head men's soccer coach at Wheaton College in Illinois.
"Mike Friesen brings the qualities we look for in coaches at San Diego State - a history of success, a dedication to the education and graduation of the student-athlete, a commitment to achieving success within the rules, a belief that we can successfully recruit the very best athletes, and the attributes of a person who treats those around him as he wishes to be treated," Schemmel said. "Mike was up against a very good field of candidates, and distinguished himself with his passion for San Diego State and his game plan for success."
Friesen, who has run the day-to-day operations of the program since January, has played a significant role in both recruiting and coaching in each his three seasons at San Diego State. The Aztecs advanced to the Mountain West Conference tournament final his first year on The Mesa and made a semifinal appearance in 2005, winning 11 games, the second-highest win total this decade.
"I am grateful for the support I have received from the team, the other coaches here at San Diego State and from the administration," Friesen said. "I'm excited to be the leader of this team and I am confident about the new direction we are heading and of a bright future for Aztec women's soccer."
Eight Aztecs have garnered all-league first or second team honors during his tenure, including 2004 conference defensive player of the year Alexis Solovij. Goalkeeper Sophia Perez was named the MWC tournament most valuable player in 2004, while off the field, 25 SDSU players have earned conference all-academic accolades.
San Diego State's 2005 recruiting class was rated 19th nationally, while a year later, the 2006 class received top-30 recognition. Both groups were ranked No. 1 in the Mountain West Conference by Soccer Buzz.
Before coming to SDSU in June 2004, Friesen spent five years with the UC Santa Barbara women's soccer program from 1999-2003, with his last two seasons as associate head coach. His responsibilities included coaching the team's offense, recruiting, community outreach and academics.
On the field, he helped turn the Gaucho program around, going from a 7-29-2 mark the two seasons prior to his arrival, to a 24-11-6 record from 2002-03. Friesen also was integral in signing and developing three straight offensive Big West Conference offensive players of the year in Jennifer Borcich in 2001 and 2003 and Krystal Sandza in 2002.
Friesen has had a great deal of experience coaching at a variety of levels. Before his time at UCSB, he guided the under-19 Santa Rosa United Aftershocks to the 1999 girls' California State Cup championship. In 1997, he directed Ursuline High School in Santa Rosa, Calif., to the CIF North Coast Section championship game.
As a student-athlete, Friesen played two years at Point Loma Nazarene (1988-89) in San Diego before transferring to Sonoma State, where he was a member of a NCAA Division II quarterfinalist squad in 1993. Friesen was the second-leading scorer in the Northern California Athletic Conference as a senior.
Friesen completed his bachelor's degree in kinesiology with an emphasis in exercise science in 1996, before continuing his soccer playing career with the North Bay Breakers of the USISL, reaching the regional finals in the team's final year of existence. For the next several seasons, he played for Juventus in the California Premier Soccer Alliance before signing with the Greek Americans Soccer Club, based in San Francisco, which won two U.S. Open Cup championships in the 1990s.
Friesen and his wife Jamie, who coached the Santa Barbara City College women's basketball team from 2002-04, have a son, Cole Jaymey, and a daughter, Emily Mychael.
The Mike Friesen File
Full Given Name
Michael David Friesen
Birthdate
May 16, 1970
Education
B.S. - kinesiology
(Sonoma State, 1996)
Family
Wife, Jamie, and children, Cole Jamey and Emily Mychael
NCAA Coaching
Experience
2007
San Diego State
Women's Head Coach
2004-06
San Diego State
Women's Assistant/
Associate Head Coach
1999-03
UC Santa Barbara
Women's Assistant/
Associate Head Coach
Playing Experience
1988-89
Point Loma Nazarene
1993-94
Sonoma State
1995
North Bay Breakers
1996-97
Juventus (California Premier Soccer Alliance)
1998
Greek Americans Soccer Club