Lake Erie College Women’s Soccer – Coach Becks Young

On today’s episode, I speak with Coach Young from the Lake Erie Women’s Program in Ohio. We talk about how she thinks players need to be evaluating the programs too. She describes the school’s support for students and their academics. Lastly, we discuss their new home turf facility that is being built. Learn more about Lake Erie College Women’s Soccer.

Matt: [00:00:00] Hi, everybody. Welcome to Discover College Soccer. Today, I’m lucky enough to be joined by Coach Bex Young from Lake Erie College in Ohio. Welcome, 

Coach: Coach. Thanks for having me, Matt. So excited to be here and chat all things, uh, all things soccer, all things Lake Erie, and yeah, hopefully. I’ll have some informative things to say.

Matt: Well, that’ll be great. I, I was just saying beforehand, I grew up in Ohio. You have, you have a girl on your roster from my hometown, although I’ve never been up to Lake Erie College, definitely spent a few weekends on the lake itself. Uh, so interested to hear more about it. But, but, and, and, and of course, as we were, we were.

Talking, coming on, you’re going to be down in my neck of the woods this weekend for, for ECNL spring, uh, at premiere. So this being the hotbed of, of college showcase season, kind of, you know, where are you in terms of, of your recruiting classes? What’s your normal calendar? Although I know this is only, I guess you’re, you’re first year really full first year recruiting class.

Uh, are you, is, is all your 24s are done and you’re looking at. 25, 26 is what’s that calendar look like for you right now? 

Coach: Um, yeah, so obviously it’s been just over a year, actually a year and a week. Um, so for me, it was maybe a little slower on this 2024 class in terms of, I took this year to see what we have and to see what holes needed patched, obviously.

within reason, right? We [00:01:30] know if good players are coming up, we’re not saying, okay, well, we’re going to wait until October to decide if we like you or not. But, um, in terms of that piece, you know, we’re, we’re still refining that class and we’re really excited about it. It’s kind of a mix of a couple of transfer players with, with true freshmen.

And, um, again, just, just adding quality where, where we need it and, and, you know, Every person coming in adds some value to what we’re trying to do, but, um, also in conjunction with refining the 24 class and finalizing that we were active with our 2025 class. So for me right now, 2026 is, you know, we, we see you, um, but we’ll, we’ll see you more, um, in, in, in June and beyond.

So for, for us in our calendar, that’s, that’s where we’re at right now. I finalizing that 24 and really. Getting into the, the nitty gritty of the 2025s. 

Matt: Okay. All right. Well, like I say, you’re, you’re coming down here to Lakewood ranch, uh, for ECNL spring Florida event, like what other kind of tournaments are on your list that you’d like to get to each year?

Coach: Um, so for us and as a staff in year one, we want to be at as many things as possible. Um, obviously in Ohio, there’s so many good soccer players within that state. You know, you’ve got Cincinnati area, Columbus area, Toledo area, Cleveland area, which obviously we’re closer to Cleveland, but It’s kind of been a priority of mine to make sure [00:03:00] the best kids in Ohio want to come to Lake Erie.

So that’s been a fun piece of work, everything we can be at. And then it’s also important to me to find players from different states that, You know, maybe other schools aren’t looking at that, that we’re not competing with other schools for that, that again can elevate us, add value and, and, and have us competing in our conference a little better than, than before.

So, um, it’s kind of a mix of, of that sort of stuff. So, um, you know, your, your gateway showcases, your blue chips, your. ECNL Florida. We were actually there as a staff and in January, and I’m lucky enough to go back, uh, this weekend. So, um, you know, we’re kind of all over, we were in North Carolina and in November as well.

And, um, basically trying to get to as many things as possible to get our name out there one and, and two to, to evaluate people that, um, maybe we don’t get to see on our doorstep on a regular basis. 

Matt: Sure. Well, In being a new staff to the program, are you guys putting together any ID camps or are you guys working other ID camps?

Are they going to be a part of your normal recruiting process? 

Coach: Um, I love ID cams. I think for me, ID camps, it’s almost like a two way evaluation. so For us, we host ID camps. We’re going to be announcing a spring ID camp within the next week. Wish I had the date [00:04:30] right now, but I do not. Um, but for me, I find them so rewarding in the sense of, I can see what players are like on, on, on our home campus and on our field and in our, and in our environment, but.

For the players themselves, you know, when, when I’m recruiting, am I selling you a dream or do you actually enjoy my style of coaching? Do you enjoy the training sessions that we’ll put on? Do you think that I’ll help you get better at soccer? Because ultimately that’s, that’s the piece. You don’t come in day one as the finished article.

It’s, it’s on me, the coach to ensure that, that you reach your full potential and, and help within that. So I think. College ID camps are so important, especially if it’s a school you want to go to, you know, maybe, maybe there’s other ones that aren’t as valuable for us, but certainly the ones on our campus are, it’s so important for, again, us evaluating players, but vice versa.

I think that’s an important piece that maybe doesn’t get spoken about enough. Players should be evaluating their. There are the colleges just as much as we’re evaluating them. 

Matt: Yeah, great advice for sure. Well, whether it’s at an ID camp or any of these tournaments, you’re you’re at. What is it that kind of makes up the hierarchy of things you’re looking for in a player, whether that’s on the field attributes or off the field?

Coach: Um, so obviously everyone knows well, well known that the, the speed of play and the aggression is, is what takes a huge jump in, in the college game. So, uh, that’s something that we’ll look for naturally [00:06:00] within like the high school or the club ranks, or even when we’re recruiting internationally as well.

Okay. Are you naturally someone that isn’t scared to go into 50, 50 battles division two soccer is, is a lot of. 50 50 battles that are you going to come out on top of? Um, so, so certainly that’s a big piece. Your technical ability is also really important. Um, do you keep the ball under pressure? When you’ve got pressure on you, is it just a quick like, Oh, let me just kick it over there.

I think there’s someone over there. Or, or is it a, is it a, um, a methodical process where you understand the spacing, you understand the, the, maybe the little shift that you need to move to the right or to the left to get beyond the, the defender that’s pressing you and then complete that pass. Um, our players need to be comfortable on the ball.

So that’s something that, you know, that’s something that If, if you’re lacking there, you know, maybe there’s other redeeming qualities that, that can have you be successful for us. Um, but, but certainly the, the aggression, the, the technical ability, and obviously it’s not, um, negative aggression, it’s that positive aggression that whenever you’re playing against 21 year olds that are, um, strong women, can you hang?

Matt: For sure. Well, and, um, Obviously, that’s that’s not a northern Ohio accent that we hear on you. So, uh, and looking at your roster, you got a sprinkling of international students. So how does [00:07:30] international recruiting come into play? And also, um, junior college recruiting in the transfer portal. How have they all kind of affected your, your recruiting right now?

Coach: Um, so yeah, I’m from Northern Ireland originally, um, so obviously I’ve seen the, the gifts that, uh, college soccer can give, um, and, and I was fortunate enough to play on a roster that had a really healthy blend of, of U. S. based players and, um, international players. So for me, I love that for, for my players.

So yes, in terms of bringing cultures, bringing languages, bringing a different way of doing things that, you know, maybe people grew up on the streets, playing soccer in, in whatever country. And, um, they get to kind of bring that over here and vice versa on, on, on various things that America does so, so well.

It kind of creates that natural family environment. You know, people always want to go to a team that feels like a family. And I’ve seen firsthand experience myself and I see with our group that naturally when you’re bringing kids across the water, across the Atlantic Ocean or the Pacific Ocean, whichever one, and they don’t have their families here, that the domestic players naturally take them under their wing.

Um, and then it creates that really natural family blend of like, this is your family away from home, right? You’re, you’re home away from home and, um, it’s so rewarding for, for both sides. You know, you’re, you’re bringing a kid [00:09:00] from Germany home for Thanksgiving. Um, or, you know, for two of our players, they went to Germany for Christmas this year, which my mom would never have allowed me to do that, but, you know, they got to go in and experience that with, with their teammate and another girl went to London for Christmas.

And it’s like, this is, this is awesome. Like college soccer, you know, we, we, we have to win games. We have to compete well, but there’s so many amazing things that come from that. You know, you’ve got vacation homes. Um, all over the world and, and for us currently on our roster, we have, uh, Germany, we have Sweden, we have, um, Canada, um, but we have, uh, New Zealand and, and we had a girl from England as well, so those bonds that, that, that exist and last for a lifetime and, you know, if you find yourself in, in one of those countries, you, you’ve got a home and you’ve got a family that’ll show you the kindness that, that you showed them whenever they were over here.

Matt: Yeah, that’s fantastic. Well, let’s talk a little bit more about the school. I’m sure there’s folks familiar or not familiar with Lake Erie College. So you’ve been there a year kind of what drew you to Lake Erie. What are the things that you found so far in that 1st year? That kind of helped that school really stand out and that are awesome.

Maybe some things we wouldn’t even know just by visiting the website. 

Coach: I love that question. So. Being an international, when I was being recruited to play at colleges, and I played at two different ones and I’d never sat on foot of the campus of either [00:10:30] one until I got there. And when I started coaching and I started recruiting, um, I would have players be like, you know, as soon as I stepped on campus, I just had, I just had that feeling.

I’m like, that’s really cool. I never had that. I just showed up and then this is where it was. Um, and when I was going through the interview process here, I was It was just one of those things where the people were amazing. And it was, as I’m going through that process, I’m thinking, dang, I really hope I get this job.

These people are awesome. You know, everyone is, is very genuine, authentic, and, you know, they seem to really care about kind of all facets of, of student athlete life, but also the program itself. So for me, that’s, that’s what really made this kind of a no brainer, but, um, you know, that, that kind of.

Reverberates throughout the campus, you know, in terms of professors and Athletic support staff, um, kind of even, even into like the dining hall with, with the employees there, they’re just really good people. And, and it was, it was a, an amazing thing to, to kind of be here. And that’s something that our student athletes experience, you know, daily whoever they come across, um, people are always excited about women’s soccer and all you guys have a game today.

No, we’re in our off season. Oh, okay. Well, let me know when your next game is and, and things like that. So it’s a, it’s a really nice. Space where our players are also super involved in, in things that aren’t just soccer. You know, we have RAs on [00:12:00] campus. We have the president of the campus activities board.

We have, you know, various other activities that, that they’re, you know, the psychology club, the, the Italian club, things like that, that, that they get really involved in. And again, it helps build that like community atmosphere that you don’t just care about the soccer team. You care about the school itself and you’re really involved in.

Um, and, and all of those things for. Soccer isn’t 24 seven. Sometimes it feels like it, but there’s so many other things. 

Matt: Yeah, no, that’s great. Well, another challenge students have, you know, moving into the college ranks is balancing the demands of being, uh, an athlete and a student. Uh, how do your players specifically kind of make sure that they have that balance and what kind of support systems does the school offer to make sure they’re successful in both?

Coach: So good question. I’m not sure I have like a direct answer to how they balance it. They do. But um, in terms of support from the campus as well, you know, we have free tutoring on campus, so in person tutoring for various classes. If it’s kind of a niche class, it’s really tough, like organic chemistry seems to kick people’s butts quite a bit.

Um, there’s online tutoring, obviously office hours from professors, they’re always Willing, eager to meet with students to help them, you know, achieve the desired grade that they want, um, or at least, you know, if things are a little [00:13:30] dicey, it’s certainly a passing grade. Um, so. With that being a small school, those sorts of hands on approaches and individualized approaches are really common and really rewarding for our players.

From a soccer standpoint, we do what are kind of called academic pride sheets. So each week, our players, regardless of grade, kind of come in and they basically have to fill out whatever, uh, Um, tests or, um, essays or any, any assignments that they had that week and kind of put in their grades. So, so we kind of do that progress monitoring, um, each week.

Obviously, we also do study tables for our freshmen, because that’s typically the most difficult piece going in from the high school. Spring senior year into the fall where soccer’s brand new. There’s so many new people and classes are tougher. Um, you know, we, we make sure to do a, to do a diligent job with, with them on ensuring they’re, they’re being successful in the classroom and making all the right choices going to class.

And, and we, we play a pretty hands on. Approach with that and as long as they get a 3. 0 in their first semester, you know, they’re not that they’re left to their own devices. We still progress monitor, but they don’t have to come in with those study tables is, you know, if you can handle that, that first semester where you’re in season and you’re in classes for the first, you know, First time in college, you should be able to handle your spring semester.

Matt: [00:15:00] Exactly. Yeah. Should, should be right. Should there’s always outliers. Well, let’s rewind. Let’s take it back to, you know, we’ll say October. You’re in the heart of that conference season. Can you walk me through what a typical schedule is going to look like for your players? You know, winter classes, meals, practices, what’s the game cadence look like?

What were they in for?

Coach: Um, so last season will look a little different to this season. Um, last year we didn’t have our own home field on campus. So our training times were typically later in the evening five to seven, seven to nine at night. Not the best doable. A lot of schools do it, obviously, as well, but, um, we just got, um, it announced that we’re getting a home turf field on campus, uh, for the fall.

So, that’ll be nice. Um, we’ll, we’ll hopefully train any hours between kind of noon and four and, and, and have that good. Kind of day or the evening to study and fuel and and reflect and all of those things rather than kind of waiting all day to go and train and then finishing assignments at night. But typically in October, uh, you know, if it was a one game week, so our game was on the weekend, we’d train that Monday through Friday, we’d lift twice a week.

Um, those training sessions obviously would typically be in the evening. If it was, if the opponent was a team that played on grass, which is. Somewhat common in our conference, we’d we’d be able to train a little bit earlier on on a grass field that that’s on campus. Um, but [00:16:30] apart from that, it would be.

Training once a day, uh, lifting twice a week. So that Monday, Wednesday, um, and then if it’s an away game, obviously it’s either leaving on that Saturday morning for, for an afternoon kickoff, or if it’s an overnight game, uh, leaving on that Friday, trying to make sure players can, can be in class as much as possible that day, um, and, and then getting on the road and checking into the hotel, getting a team meal and going over some pregame stuff.

We’ll add in, you know, we didn’t do it as regularly as we probably should have with kind of video analysis and, um, and kind of more of a, an in depth scouting report of teams and that’s something that this spring we’re implementing more regularly and in the fall that’ll be a big piece, um, especially. We don’t need to travel to an offsite field.

It’ll give us a lot more room with that. We have a really nice locker room that we’re able to do presentations in and things like that. So we’re excited to utilize that space. But other weeks, you know, we have two games a week, whether that’s a Wednesday, Saturday or Thursday, Saturday. Um, obviously those training sessions look a lot heavier on the Monday.

Um, then they do on the Thursday where we’re kind of match day. Um, plus one is always that, that recovery based piece. 

Matt: Okay. Well, let’s shift gears, talk a little bit more, uh, you know, about the team. Um, well we talked recruiting, but is, [00:18:00] is there a roster size that, that you’re trying to hit that you, you kind of.

Coach: Um, so for me, 35 max is, is our, our number, if we’re going to say that it’s a number this, this fall, we have 32. Um, so, you know, 35 is, is the max that, that we go. We have 35 lockers. In our locker room. So that’s, uh, that’s nice. Um, I don’t have to carry a bloated roster, which, which is lovely. You know, I, a big piece of me as a coach is I really value the, the relationship pieces, um, that, that I build with players.

And that’s like, you know, the people you work with every day, it’s fun to watch them grow, it’s fun to be part of their lives, all of that. And I feel if, if I carry more than 35, that, that sort of piece or that sort of spiel, if you want to call it a spiel, um, It starts to become less authentic because how can I be super close and have these great relationships with 40 odd people?

Um, it’s it’s impossible. There’s not enough hours in the day Um, I don’t know if i’d have any time for for my husband or my dog if uh, if that was the case So i’m very lucky in that capacity that that i’m able to build authentic relationships and push Kind of that that lower end of a roster especially for division two nights.

It’s it’s There’s a lot of numbers out there for sure. 

Matt: Well, besides roster, the number of players, there’s a number of staff. So talk to me about your staff. How many do you have? [00:19:30] What roles do they play? What other support staff are in the athletic department that maybe help out with the team? 

Coach: Um, so we have myself as the head coach, we have a full time assistant.

Um, she joined us in August. So it’s been great. Kind of the, the staff itself all, all was kind of new at around the same time or a little bit sporadically new. Um, and then we have a graduate assistant. He actually leaves us, um, in, in May. He’s graduating. So we’re, we’re looking to fill that role as well.

But in terms of like exact roles, um, you know, I handle most of the on field training. Um, that, that’s something where. It’s important that my voice at this time in my career as a first year coach, that it’s implementing my style, my way of doing things, not my way or the highway, obviously, but kind of creating that consistency in a turbulent time of a coaching turnover.

Um, and then obviously giving those opportunities to, to the assistance, um, Mel and Scott to, to grow themselves as well in that capacity. Um, so they, they, they chip in with those sessions. Mel’s primarily our goalkeeper coach. Uh, so we’ve heard dedicated with, with the goalkeepers each session. Um, and, and then Scott and I primarily take the, the field players each session.

Um, we do have strength and conditioning, um, staff as well, but what we find, so we utilize, um, stats boards, kind of the GPS trackers. Um, what we find is that maybe it’s on me, the communication piece, [00:21:00] but it was easier to kind of. Have us take care of the strength and conditioning pieces in conjunction with the field, the field stuff.

Because we knew how hard we were working the players each day. Um, so we knew if, say on Monday it was a really heavy session on the field. Okay, can we taper off lift a little bit today? Um, instead of kind of going through the middle man, we cut that person out and, and, and with the strength and conditioning piece, our, our, uh, graduate assistant, Scott, he, he’s really passionate about those things.

And, and flares really love that, that aspect of him leading that. So. Um, we’re, we’re lucky to kind of have those sorts of roles kind of clearly defined and obviously with, with pregame scouting and, and match reports and things like that, uh, we all kind of chip in kind of game to game on, on those sorts of things and, and recruitment it’s, it’s on all of us, uh, obviously myself being the, the most, um, active, I guess, but, but obviously the, the three of us getting on the road, going to games.

Um, whether it’s club, whether it’s tournaments, whether it’s high school games, uh, just, just being as active as, as we can, as, as a collective. 

Matt: Okay. Well, how would you describe your style of coaching and kind of the style of play that you’re hoping to play there?

Coach: Um, so I like to say, it sounds maybe corny, but like good vibes lead to good performance.

Um, no, I’m certainly guilty of bringing not fun vibes from, from time to time, but, um, as a, as a general rule of thumb [00:22:30] and kind of my core identity as a human being, I like to enjoy, um, coaching. I like to enjoy the environment. I like to have fun whilst coaching, but, but obviously. We’ve got to have the intensity there, we’ve got to have the right mindset, um, there, and, and those things are paramount for me, so I’m not typically someone that’s going to scream and yell from the sideline, I’m going to maybe yell direction, um, every now and again, but, but I’m not someone that’s going to be, be screaming and berating the players, um, 24 7.

But in terms of my actual style of play, division two, as I said, it’s a lot of winning 50 50 balls. So we have to be nitty and gritty in those moments. But ultimately, it’s so that we can get the ball on the ground and move the ball. Um, so possession with a purpose, um, is a very vague term, but, um, you know, our, our defenders have to be comfortable with the ball at our feet.

So if we’ve hit or we’ve won a ball in the middle, um, and we’ve got on the grind, our center backs dropping off to receive so we can circulate the ball through the back to then build an attack. We have a lot of players that are technically gifted and if we were a long ball kick and run team, which can be effective by the way, um, it wouldn’t be playing to their strengths.

So we want to get the ball on the ground. Obviously we want dynamic runs from, from our forwards, from our attacking mids to get it, get beyond. But primarily we need our center mids to be comfortable receiving the ball under pressure to progress the ball. Rather than ball comes in from the [00:24:00] defender into the holding mid, straight back to the defender.

Can you get yourself in a position where you’re able to progress the ball to a wide forward or a full back that’s pushed up? Um, and we certainly want the more people in the offensive third and the more people joining attacks, the more likely we are to be successful in those moments. Or if it breaks down, be high enough up the pitch to regain possession.

You know, we’re we’re not going to be consistently building from our 18 yard box, but we want the ball in the grind. Um, and we want to move the ball again. Players have to be confident to do that and receive the ball under pressure. 

Matt: All right. Well, coach, you’ve been super generous with your time, giving us a lot to look at about Lake Erie.

I’m going to leave you with one last question, and that is if you had just one piece of advice or something you feel all families, parents, players going through the college recruiting process should know, what do you think that should be? 

Coach: Be authentic, be yourself, um, the, everyone says about the right fit and how important that is.

But it’s exactly true. Um, you don’t want to put on a face of being someone that you’re not and ending up at a, at a spot that isn’t really right for you. Um, I think that’s, that’s huge. I also think when you’re doing campus visits. Try and spend some time with with players on our visits. We always have time for the individual to go and eat lunch with with the players by themselves.[00:25:30] 

And we’ll then eat lunch with with the parents or whoever’s on campus with them. And it’s so important to ask those players what it’s really like. Because they’re not going to lie. They’re not going to sugarcoat anything. You know, if they hate it, they’ll tell you if they love it, they’ll tell you that they’ll be real with you.

And I think it’s important to ask those questions and. Um, and even off of the head coach like, Hey, would I be able to have lunch with, with the players? Would I be able to meet the players on my visit? Um, because Those are the people you’re ultimately going to be spending four years with. Yeah. You sign up to a head coach, but the people that are going to be in, in and around your life on a daily basis, um, more consistently in the dorms and kind of who you’re going to battle with on the field, um, that they’re going to be the most important people.

Are they people you can vibe with or, or get the best out of you and vice versa. 

Matt: Couldn’t agree more. Well, coach really appreciate it. Uh, Good luck in, in all of your recruiting travels and getting down here safe for the weekend. Uh, hopefully I’ll, I’ll see you out at the fields. 

Coach: Yeah. Cheers, Matt.

Appreciate it. Thanks so much. Thank you.