Utah Valley University Women’s Soccer – Coach Chris Lemay

On today’s episode, I speak with Coach Chris Lemay from the Utah Valley University Women’s Soccer program in Orem, Utah.
We discuss how Coach Lemay and his staff are navigating the ever-changing recruiting landscape, including new NCAA rules, transfer portal strategy, and the importance of ID camps in their evaluation process. Coach also shares what makes Utah Valley stand out, from its new soccer-specific stadium and recent success on the field to the incredible resources and support available for student-athletes. Lastly, we talk about the program’s possession-based playing style, intentional team culture, and Coach Lemay’s advice for recruits on finding the right college fit rather than simply chasing a name or logo. Learn more about Utah Valley University Women’s Soccer.

Matt: [00:00:00] Hi, everybody. Welcome to Discover College Soccer. Today, I’m lucky enough to be joined by Coach Chris at Utah Valley. Welcome, Coach. 

Coach: Thank you. Appreciate it. Yeah, happy to be here. 

Matt: Yeah, glad to have you. Thanks for making time. I know, uh, you guys are, are right back at it. We’re here talking kind of late July, and then the new longer pre-season for D1 women’s soccer is in full play.

How you liking it so far? 

Coach: Yeah, I think the transition period makes a ton of sense. You know, to have the players come in and, and kind of have a, a, a longer runway to get ready for the season and, and be able to gradually kind of get into it. I think, I think from, from an injury prevention standpoint makes a lot of sense, and certainly a four-week, um, pre-season as opposed to, uh, you know, two weeks is, is significantly different.

And I think, I think much needed and, uh, we’re loving it. So yeah, very happy with it. 

Matt: D- does it change at all your, like, recruiting calendar now that you, you got two more weeks that you gotta be kind of in with the team versus out recruiting the next [00:01:00] class or two? Is, does that change anything at all for you guys?

Coach: You know, I mean, it, it does, you know, in, in that regard, yeah. I mean, it takes away two weeks of summer that traditionally could’ve been used to go, you know, get eyeballs on players, without a doubt. But I think the other part of it is, you know, we, we were just able to start contacting, you know, the class of ’28s in, in June and June 15th, and now, um, you know, they’ve put the dead period on top of it to where we can’t, uh, bring them on campus until like August 11th.

And so that, that’s tricky. You know, that, that part of it’s a little bit tricky and, and I mean, I, I can understand, uh, the aspect of not having, uh, the players come in the first couple of weeks of pre-season just to allow us time with our team, you know, and, and, and not be distracted with, with visits as well.

But you know, now it’s, it’s essentially two months where we can talk to them but we can’t have them come on campus, and a lot of players are already starting to verbally commit without having taken visits. And, and that’s a, you know, it’s just a, a, an ever- ever-changing landscape and, and just yet another challenge that we’re trying to deal with.

‘Cause we’d [00:02:00] prefer to have players in, on campus and get to see and, and meet them in person and get to know their families a little bit better than just, you know, a couple of phone calls and then a quick commitment. So it’s tricky. What… You know, how, how do you navigate that? 

Matt: Well, and you throw on top the new, uh, five and five rule.

You got 28 l- roster limits. You got, uh, all, all the things going on, you know, with the changes in the, in the NCAA landscape. So h- I mean, I guess for you guys, especially you now making the move, uh, conference move, right, um- Sure H- how are you, how are you just managing the whole thing? Is it still primarily looking at, uh, you know, ECNL, GA showcases, that sort of thing?

Are you looking more on the transfer side of things to help manage, balance things out? Kind of what’s your preferred mechanisms here? 

Coach: Yeah. Well, I mean, I think, I think that that’s exactly right. I mean, I think everything that you’ve just stated is exactly where we’re trying to find players, and then add in the international component.

You know? [00:03:00] So, uh, certainly the GA, the ECNL are obviously a lot of talented kids there. So you know, it, it … We’re, we’re definitely continuing to try to keep, you know, a, a beat on that pulse as well. And, um … But, but with that being said, we always wanna, you know, have a couple of roster spots available for the transfer windows.

And then, you know, we’ve done well, uh, internationally, specifically Canada. And so we’re still continuing to, you know, look at that as well. So I mean, all, all those, all those avenues. But what, but what you said is right. I mean, the … for us, when, when we got word that the five- five year rule was gonna be passed, um, you know, our first thing was, “Okay, let’s have sit down conversations starting with our seniors.”

Uh, you know, who, who did we think that this upcoming fall, this is their last hurrah, and now all of a sudden it doesn’t necessarily nee- need to be the case. So we’ve already, you know, confirmed with a handful of our seniors that they do wanna ex- execute that, that fifth year now that they have available to them.

So then, then all of a sudden we have to start looking at, okay, well, what have we verbally [00:04:00] committed for the ’27 class? Um, and, and so that, that, that’s, uh, you know, we’re, we’re continuing to evaluate that depth chart with that 28 player roster limit and try to, try to navigate how we’re gonna move forward with, with that class.

Matt: Okay. Well, uh, you know, it seems to me that, uh, that ID camps are ev- you know, everybody seems to be running theirs. D- are they an important part of your recruiting process? Do you guys work your own, or do you work external ones? Are they part of it at all for you? 

Coach: So, I mean, in terms of the ID camps, we do a handful over the course of the year.

Uh, generally, you know, we’ll do four or five a year, and, um, we’ve had success. We, a- and, uh, there’s been plenty of times that we’ve been aware of a player and, and have seen them in their club environment. They show up at, on a ID camp, and we just get to know them on a, on a, you know, a, a closer level. Um, and, and, and we’ve signed players, you know, that have attended ID camps, without a doubt.

But there have also been, uh, a couple of instances where a player wasn’t even on our radar. They [00:05:00] turn up at our, our campus and, and they show up at ID camp, and it’s like, “Whoa, who’s this kid?” And, um, we, we have current players, we have past players that have come through our program that the first time we ever met them was, uh, was on our campus at an ID camp.

So, um, you know, I, I understand that you can’t, you know, as, as a upcoming player, a prospect, probably can’t go to every, every, you know, campus’ ID camp. I get that. But if you’re very serious about ID camps, I would strongly suggest, you know, getting, getting an opportunity to be in front of the coaches and, and get to see, you know, what their coaching style is and, and what their facilities look like.

I, I think there’s a ton of benefit to, to the ID camps still, for sure. 

Matt: Well, whether it’s an ECNL player, a transfer player, international player, ID camp player, whoever it is, kind of what makes up that hierarchy of things you’re looking for in a player, both on and off the field? 

Coach: Yeah, I mean, we’re greedy.

You know? Like, we, we want, we, we want it all. Um, you know, obviously for, for us, uh, [00:06:00] and again, Matt, I don’t know how familiar you are with our program, but we like to keep the ball. And, um, and so for us, you know, uh, we, we, we definitely want players that wanna play in that, in that system, and wanna play that style of soccer.

Um, and, and certainly it doesn’t mean that, that they can, they can not be athletic and succeed, but I mean, yeah, we’re looking for athletic players that are super competitive and, you know, love the game and, and, you know, want the ball an- and take pride in keeping the ball. And I mean, so that’s, that’s what we’re trying to identify, and will they fit into, you know, the way that we kinda try to do it.

Matt: Okay. Well, let’s talk a little bit more about the school. Uh, some folks, you know, maybe aren’t familiar with Utah Valley. Uh, as I mentioned before, you guys are making a conference switch, but you’ve been there a good long time now. So, so give us some insight, give us some cool things about the school.

Maybe some things we wouldn’t even know about going through the website. 

Coach: Yeah, I mean, so for me it’s… I was at, I was at Cal, you know, back when the Pac-12 was still the, the, the original [00:07:00] Pac-12. Uh, as an assistant I was at, uh, San Diego State prior to that. And I’ve been at Utah Valley now going into my 10th fall, and the strides that this program has made is just unbelievable.

Um, the investment that the school has, has committed to, ex- specifically in men’s and women’s soccer is, is wild. I mean, I, I’ve been to what I think are all of the top stadiums in the country and, and our, our brand new stadium that we opened up last year, it’s a $30 million so- soccer specific stadium, is as good as any, any college soccer complex in the country.

Um, you know, we’ve been to the NCAA tournament a number of times. We’ve been very successful in our old conference, having won it, you know, five of the last six years, and the last four years in a row. Um, you know, we just signed two players out of our, our last year’s senior class in the NWSL. Uh, Ruby Lattics playing at Seattle Reign, Faith Weber with the Denver Summit.

So, uh, Heather Stainbrook, who was, you know, a couple years prior to them at Washington Spirit. So I mean, we’re, we’re, we’re a program that’s continuously [00:08:00] putting, you know, players in, in, in the pro ranks. Um, from a university standpoint, we’re about 30 miles south of Salt Lake City, so it’s a big international airport that you can get in and out of.

We’re 15 minutes from Sundance, uh, the s- the ski resort. We’re 30 minutes from Park City. You know, some of the best skiing in, in, in the world. Uh, we’re the largest, uh, university in the state of Utah, public university with 40,000, um, undergrad students. So we’ve got, you know, a number of different, you know, avenues for, for players to, to look at in terms of, you know, what they’re interested in majoring in or studying.

So yeah, I mean, I, I had never really spent a ton of time in, in Utah until I moved here 10 years ago, and I’ve absolutely fallen in love with it. And, um, yeah, so I, I, I mean certainly obviously, uh, biased, but, but ha- I think that we have a lot to offer. 

Matt: Oh, that’s awesome. Well, let’s fast-forward here, say, a, a good two months.

You’re in the heart of that conference season. What- walk me through what do [00:09:00] you see a typical week looking like for the players in terms of when do they train, meals, classes, game cadence, all that kind of thing? 

Coach: Yeah. So I mean, for us, our, um, our, uh, new conference, the, the Big West is, is playing on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

So for us, if you start on a Sunday, Sunday would be our off day. Uh, we’ll train Monday and train Tuesday. We’ll play match day Wednesday, recovery session Thursday, train Friday, match day Saturday. Uh, we definitely have, you know, two s- two film sessions also built into that week, as well as one weight session, you know, kind of when we’re in the thick of things.

Um, so an- and we train, for us personally, we train 9:00 AM to 10:30. Um, so the players have the ability to get in and, and get to the, the athletic training room, and obviously our fueling station or whatnot prior to training. They train 9:00 to 10:30, and then they’re free to start classes at 11:00. So at come 11:00, they’re free for their academics [00:10:00] and their social life and everything else that goes along with being a, a college student.

Matt: Oh, okay. Interesting. Um, in terms of being a college student, sometimes the hardest thing for especially incoming freshmen is making that, that switch, right? I gotta be- Sure … successful in the classroom and at a, you know, a D1 college soccer program, a lot of demands. What kind of support systems are there at Utah Valley to make sure the girls are successful both on and off the field?

Coach: Yeah. A- and that’s one of the things that I feel we’re- I’m proud of, I guess, and I feel like our, our players are super fortunate to have every external resource available to them as possible. I mean, we’ve got a team culture coach. We’ve got a sports psych. We’ve got obviously doctors. We’ve got medical staff.

We have our own specific athletic academic advisor that walks them through admissions to scheduling their classes to graduation. So, uh, I mean, in terms of… We have massage therapists. We’ve got… I mean, so any- anything that they could [00:11:00] possibly need, we have our own dietician. Uh, so like anything that we need, you know, in terms of body, um, academics, um, physical health, mental health, uh, we’re there every step of the way to support those players, um, in all facets of life.

Matt: Oh, that’s amazing. Well, we’ve, we’ve talked about, uh, you know, roster limits, uh, and some, some external help, but talk to me about the rest of the roster. What’s your staff look like? What role does everybody play there? 

Coach: Yeah, so we’re fully staffed. Um, two full-time assistant coaches, uh, Sydney Bushman, who was an All-American for us here and has now been on the coaching side for three years.

Uh, one of our actual, uh, alumnae’s husband, uh, who played at Utah Valley on the men’s side is our other assistant just joining us for the first year, because my past two, um, associate head coaches have both taken on head coaching jobs now, which is, you know, obviously exciting for them. Uh, so Carter, Carter’s joined [00:12:00] us, and then we’ve got a goalkeeper coach, um, full-time goalkeeper coach.

We’ve got a full-time director of operations. We have two student managers, uh, that work with us, and then obviously a strength and conditioning coach that administers every one of our, uh, warmups, cooldowns, recovery days, and also monitors all of our wearables. So he collects all the data for, for all of our loads and whatnot.

So i- in terms of the, the staff, we’re, we’re fully staffed, um, and, and, and certainly obviously feel like the, the players benefit from that. 

Matt: Yeah, that’s great. Well, you told us a little bit about the playing style there, but talk to us a little bit about you and your coaching style with the team. 

Coach: Yeah, you know, I mean, I think it would probably depend a little bit on, on who you talk to, and I, I, I, you know, I, I, I, I pride our program on our team culture.

Uh, I think, I think it’s been consistently very, very strong, and I, I think that we’re intentional in terms of like, [00:13:00] you know, how we communicate with each other, what the expectations are, holding each other accountable, um, and then just caring for each other. You know? I mean, like, we’re, we’re supposed to all be here for the same reason, and the, and the reasons for us are we wanna be the best soccer team that we can absolutely be, and we wanna win as many games as possible without a doubt.

But we also wanna enjoy ourselves throughout the process, and, and we put a focus on that. So like a lot of times, uh, you know, when we travel, uh, we try to set up special experiences for our players to like just get to see different parts of the country and, and, and get a part or get a piece of what, you know, that part of the country’s culture’s like.

I mean, this year we’re going to Hawaii and we’re playing two matches out there, and we’re gonna go on a catamaran ride, and we’re gonna go to a luau. You know, like, so we do things. Um, you know, we always do a team retreat in Park City, Utah, and we go up there and we train at the Olympic Training Center up there and, and, and we do a boat day, and we do, you know, a, a waterfall hike.

And I mean, like, we do some pretty cool stuff. So you know, like I, I, I’ve [00:14:00] officiated three of my past players’ weddings. Um, so y- and, and I’ve had a number of my past players, you know, um, that have been a part of, of my family’s life, you know, long after they’ve, uh, stopped playing. So, um, we take pride in that.

Like, like we try to develop real true relationships, not just for the four years that the player’s necessarily, you know, wearing our jersey, but, you know, for lifelong. And, um, so you know, that, that’s, that’s something about our program that I think’s special and that, and that, um, we’re gonna continue to invest in because I think it pays dividends.

Matt: No, that’s great. Well, we talked a lot about the season, but talk to me about the off-season. What should players expect to be doing, uh, in the spring when it’s not the regular, you know, game season? 

Coach: Yeah, I mean, I think it’s pretty traditional spring, you know, for us. I mean, we’re five days on, two days off, and, you know, we schedule our five dates.

Uh, we also, we try to get creative, and we try to get extra dates, ’cause I, I, I, mean, I, I’m a proponent of, of, of obviously playing as many games as we can. [00:15:00] Um, and so, like we’ve played the Argentinian full national team here in Utah. Um, we’ve, we’ve, we’ve hosted them, and, and obviously that doesn’t count against a spring date.

Um, we, we, you know, we’ve played, uh, we’ve played the Utah Royals every year now, uh, every spring, which is pretty cool to get, you know, the opportunity to, number one, get exposure to the NWSL and, and their staff and playing against them, and obviously helps us continue to grow, playing against that level of team.

So I mean, those are some things in the spring that, you know, we, we do, um, to try to, to try to continue to, you know, make our, our program a little bit different than maybe the, you know, some of the other programs. Uh, we, we definitely try to utilize the, uh, international tour every few years. So we’ve been to Costa Rica a couple of times, and we’ve also played their full national team, and so those are some kind of cool things.

But in the spring we’re still training 9:00 in the morning, so we keep that, that same training time, and, uh, we’re, we’re typically training, you know, Monday through Thursday, give Friday off, game day on Saturday, Sunday off, is typically what our schedule looks like. 

Matt: Okay. [00:16:00] Well, hey, I appreciate all the info you’ve given us.

Gonna leave you with one last question, and that is- Yeah … if you had one piece of advice for any of the girls class of ’27, ’28 going through this process right now, what would that be? 

Coach: Yeah. Well, I mean, I think, I think I’m more qualified maybe than some to answer that question, ’cause I’ve had two daughters also play division one college soccer.

And for me, it really truly is about fit, a- and fit in terms of like, you know, some backpacks look cooler than others for, you know, a very s- short amount of time. And it’s like, where are you gonna be happy in terms of the brand of play, the style of play, the, the style of the coaching, and, and what the players experience, you know, behind closed doors?

Because I, I, I think that’s really what’s gonna be most important. A- and, um, something that I would, I would, uh, you know, stress is, is, you know, obviously make, make those, make [00:17:00] those lists, you know, of things that you’re looking for in your, in your college experience and then, you know, what colleges can check off those boxes.

And then obviously it’s gonna come down to a little bit of a gut too. Like what kind of relationship have you had in your interactions with the players and the coaching staff of a school that you’re potentially gonna go to? 

Matt: Yeah. Couldn’t agree more. Well, Coach- Yeah … really appreciate it, really appreciate your time.

Wish you the best of luck this season, especially in the new conference. And, uh, if you come down to Bradenton for the ECNL Showcase in Florida, give me a shout, all right, so we can get together. I 

Coach: will. Yeah, absolutely. Appreciate it. 

Matt: All right. Thank you, Coach. 

Coach: Thanks.