University of Minnesota’s head women’s soccer coach earns first Big Ten win
MINNEAPOLIS (BVM) – Erin Chastain, head women’s soccer coach at the University of Minnesota, won her first Big Ten Conference game on Sept. 23 in a thrilling comeback win against Ohio State.
The Gophers, down 2-0 halfway through the first half, scored four unanswered goals to claim the victory.
The win comes after the Gophers’ narrow 2-1 loss against Wisconsin. It was the team’s first loss of the season. Before the loss, the Gophers were 4-0-3, making Chastain the fourth Big Ten head coach in conference history to stay undefeated in her first five matches of her first season.
With their most recent game against Michigan State, Chastain has led the Gophers to a 5-2-3 record overall.
Chastain was named head coach of the program on June 11, 2021. She brings 20 years of coaching experience, coaching at Northwestern, Santa Clara and DePaul University.
She was the top assistant coach at Northwestern for three seasons before assistant coaching at Santa Clara. For the five seasons that she was there, the Broncos reached the NCAA championship game in 2002, the semifinals in 2004 and the quarterfinals in 2005. The program also won four West Coast Conference titles.
The last 14 years have been with DePaul as head coach. In her tenure there she won over 100 games and finished with a record of 78-44-26 in her last eight seasons.
Chastain led the Blue Demons to two Big East season championships in 2014 and 2016 and to a Big East tournament title in 2014.
In addition to those achievements, the Blue Demons qualified for seven straight conference tournaments and earned NCAA berths in 2013 and 2014.
The Blue Demons had their best season in program history under Chastain’s reign. In 2014, the team won the Big East regular-season championship and the Big East tournament. They got an NCAA berth and ended the season with a 16-1-4 record, the fifth-best winning percentage in the country. The team was ranked seventh in the country. Chastain set a school record with a 20-game winning streak and ended the regular season without a loss. She was named Big East Coach of the Year.
In addition to these accolades, Chastain was honored as the NSCAA Northeast Region Coach of the Year in 2013 and 2014.
During her time at DePaul, she developed five conference players of the year, coached one All-American, four Academic All-Americans, one MAC Herman candidate and one CoSIDA Senior Class Finalist. DePaul also earned 13 straight United Soccer Coaches Team Academic Awards.
Now, the Plymouth, Minn. native has returned home to her alma mater with her husband, Chad, and two daughters, Harper and Brooklyn.
Chastain played for the Gophers from 1993-96. She was a four-year starter and a three-year captain. She played in all 82 matches of her career, scored 29 goals and had 25 assists.
She was a stellar student as well, as she was a three-time Academic All-Big Ten selection from 1994-96 and earned Academic All-District honors in 1996.
The Gophers’ next game is versus Rutgers University on Thursday, Sept. 30 at 6 p.m. CST.
