John Natale led Hartford to its third-straight America East semifinal appearance in his 10th season as head coach of the Hartford women’s soccer team in 2013. Under his guidance, the Hawks have made eight America East Championship appearances and one trip to the NCAA Tournament.
Natale has led Hartford to winning seasons in six of the last seven years and combined for a 35-13-9 (.693) record over the past three seasons. In those three years, Natale has fostered three All-American players, two America East Strikers of the Year, a two-time America East Goalkeeper of the Year, an America East Midfielder of the Year and the America East Women’s Soccer Scholar Athlete of the Year. He, and his coaching staff of Kelly Shimmin, Ciara Crinion and Kevin Bacher, was also named the America East Coaching Staff of the Year following two of those seasons.
This past season, Natale and the Hawks finished with an 11-6-3 overall record, advancing to the America East semifinals against UMBC. Following the season junior Chanel Johnson was named the America East Striker of the Year after leading the team with nine goals and 21 points. Junior transfer Stephanie Santos also earned a major conference honors when she was name co-Midfielder of the Year in her first season as a Hawk. The pair joined seven other teammates who were name to All-Conference teams, including Raelynn Mikell who joined Johnson and Santo on the All-Conference First Team. All three will return for Natale in 2014.
In 2012, Natale and the Hawks finished with an 11-5-3 record, advancing to the America East title game for the first time since winning the conference title in 2006. Following the season graduate Amelia Pereira was named an All-American while she and goalkeeper Erin Quinlan earned the league’s top billing in their respective positions, Quinlan for the second-straight season. Capping off the honors was Pereira earning the leagues Scholar Athlete distinction for women’s soccer combining her success on the pitch with her success in the classroom.
In 2011, the Hawks finished with a 13-2-3 overall record, including a 16-game regular season unbeated streak. Among the highlights from the 2011 season was Quinlan and forward Caitlin Alves earning All-America distinction as well as Quinlan earning the first of back-to-back America East Goalkeeper of the Year accolades. Overall, seven different players earned a total of 23 awards following the season, including a Scholar All-America honor for Alves.
Natale has also been very active away from the University of Hartford, joining the coaching staff with the USA Women’s Soccer National Team as a Video Analysis Coach for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Natale helped lead Team USA to its fourth Olympic gold medal defeating Japan in the title game. His responsibilities with the National Team included filming of trainings and matches along with breaking down video for analysis by coaches and players on all tactical aspects of the team’s performance. Natale’s appointment with the Women’s Soccer National Team was the second for the Wethersfield, Conn. native as he joined Head Coach Pia Sundhage’s staff for the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup as a scout.
The highlight of his career at Hartford came in 2006 when he led the Hawks to a conference best 10th America East Championship and an appearance in the NCAA Tournament. The Hawks rebounded from a tough start to finish as one of the hottest teams in the country. Entering NCAA play with an unbeaten streak of 10 games, the Hawks fell to 12th-ranked Rutgers in the first round. Hartford, which went undefeated in conference play, knocked off two nationally-ranked opponents and won America East regular season and championship titles. The Hawks also captured four of the six major postseason awards given out by the conference, including Natale and his staff earning the first of three America East Coaching Staff of the Year distinctions.
In nine seasons Natale has produced three National Soccer Coaches Association of American (NSCAA) All-Americans and five major America East Conference winners. In addition 24 players have received America East All-Conference distinction and nine players have been named to All-Region teams. His teams are no slouch off the of the field where he has had three players earn College Sports Information Directors of America Academic All-America status, while three were named NSCAA Scholar Athlete All-Americans. In addition, two players, Amelia Pereira and Liz Cook, were named America East Scholar Athletes of the Year.
Natale began his collegiate head coaching career in 2004 with the Hawks, leading a young squad to the first round of the America East Championship. He is the fifth head coach in the history of the program.
In the summer of 2006, Natale coached the Western Mass Lady Pioneers of the W-League, one of the most highly-regarded women’s leagues in the world. The team finished with an 11-3-1 record and advanced to the semifinals of the Eastern Conference playoffs for the first time in team history. Natale–who coached three all-league selections, including the U19 Player of the Year and the league’s scoring champion–was named W-League Coach of the Year.
Before coming to Hartford, Natale was an assistant coach for the Boston Breakers in 2003 and the Philadelphia Charge the previous two years. In that role, he was involved in all aspects of coaching, including practice planning and coaching, player skill development, scouting, and video game and player analysis. Both franchises reached the playoffs each year of Natale’s tenure in the WUSA. He had the opportunity to gain valuable experience under the guidance of two of the WUSA’s more successful head coaches–Boston’s Pia Sundhage (2002-03 WUSA Coach of the Year) and Philadelphia’s Mark Krikorian (2001-02 WUSA Coach of the Year). Krikorian is a former Hartford women’s head coach (1996-2000).
The Hartford head coaching position represents a homecoming of sorts for Natale, who was a Hartford women’s soccer assistant coach in 1999 (17-4-0 record that year). Prior to that, Natale coached the Wethersfield High School boys team for two years. Wethersfield won the Class L state title in 1999 and he was named conference coach of the year that season.
Natale, a Wethersfield native, excelled as a player at Eastern Connecticut State University where he was a captain and participated in the All-New England Senior Bowl. He graduated from ECSU in 1997 with a bachelor’s degree in physical education. He also played professionally for the Western Mass Pioneers of the USL.
