By Robert McKinney, Assistant Athletics Director, Communications
SALEM, Ore. -- Willamette University has hired Lisa Ljubicic as the head women's soccer coach for the Bearcats, Director of Athletics Rob Passage announced today. Ljubicic has extensive women's soccer coaching experience, including as an NCAA Division I head coach, associate head coach, and assistant coach. She will begin her duties immediately at Willamette, which competes in NCAA Division III.
Ljubicic is just the third head women's soccer coach at Willamette since 1993 and the seventh since the program started in 1981-82. Jim Tursi coached the Bearcats from 1993 until 2007. Hillary Arthur was the head coach from 2008 through 2021.
"I am so very thankful for the opportunity to represent Bearcat Athletics and lead the women's soccer program," Ljubicic said. "I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to Rob Passage and Leslie Shelvin for this opportunity and for their support and dedication to the women's soccer players and program. I am excited to be back in my home state representing one of its finest institutions and working with incredibly talented and dedicated student-athletes. I am also looking forward to meeting and working with Willamette University's dedicated staff and faculty, and working alongside them to uphold our mission of preparing graduates to transform knowledge into action and lead lives of achievement, contribution, and meaning."
As she arrives at Willamette, Ljubicic brings a tremendous amount of soccer knowledge to the Bearcats. Her coaching experience at the collegiate level began as an assistant coach at Washington State University from 2001-03. Next, she moved to the University of Arizona, where she was the associate head soccer coach and an assistant coach from 2003-09. She served as the head soccer coach at Arizona from November of 2009 through November of 2012.
Ljubicic was the manager of women's soccer operations at Santa Clara University from January of 2013 through July of 2017 and was the Girls ECNL director and head coach of the Sereno Soccer Club in 2017-18.
She returned to college coaching in 2019 as the associate head coach at California State University, Northridge from July of 2019 through September of 2020. In the fall of 2020, Ljubicic was hired as the associate head coach at Coastal Carolina University, where she stayed for two seasons until she was hired by Willamette. She has a United States Soccer Federation (USSF) A License.
Highlights of Ljubicic's career include two Sun Belt Conference Tournament appearances with Coastal Carolina in 2020 and 2021; a Big West Conference Tournament second place finish at CSU-Northridge in 2019 when she coached the Big West Defensive Player of the Year; coaching multiple First Team All-Pac 10 and All-Pac 12 players while at Arizona, including Arizona's first All-America selection and Pac 10 Player of the Year; assisting as a coach on Arizona's first conference championship team; plus three NCAA postseason tournament appearances.
"I feel very fortunate to have worked with, and learned from, some outstanding coaches throughout my career," Ljubicic commented. "There are so many things that I have learned about tactics, methodology, player management, and communication that have allowed me to grow in the profession and to continue to love what I do. My pathway in coaching has led me to Willamette, and I hope to share all of this with my players in a manner that allows them to continue to learn, appreciate, and love the game as well."
While attending Oregon City High School, Ljubicic was a two-sport athlete in soccer and track and field. She also played club soccer at Lake Oswego United, where her teammates included WU soccer alumni Jamie Barton, Kristy Ell, and Kassy Ell.
Ljubicic played on the soccer team at the University of Montana from 1994 through 1997. She was a four-year starter and a two-year captain. She was chosen Big Sky Conference Defensive Player of the Year in 1997. Ljubicic graduated from Montana in December of 1998 with a bachelor's degree in Cellular and Molecular Biology. She played semi-professional soccer and was the team captain with the Miami Gliders in the W-League in 1998 and 1999.
As Ljubicic returns to Oregon, she looks forward to developing the players on Willamette's soccer team.
"I am eager to start this next phase of my coaching career as a Bearcat. I have a great amount of respect for the work that has been done by so many in establishing a history of success in Bearcat Athletics, and I am grateful to be able to contribute to Willamette's future success," Ljubicic said. "I look forward to working for outstanding leaders, working alongside talented and successful coaches, and working with exceptional student-athletes who are motivated and driven to succeed on and off the field."
She has a plan in mind to begin the process this spring. She will focus on developing the team's abilities on the field while strengthening the team's sense of "family" off the field. For Ljubicic, that means plenty of teaching and a significant amount of players and coaches working together.
"I plan to hit the ground running, and I want to focus on building a team culture that will allow for growth for both the individual player and the team," Ljubicic noted. "I want to work to create an environment in which players feel comfortable in being challenged and pushed while being motivated to do so. There is a lot of teaching and learning that will need to happen over the next few months for myself and the team. I will be working towards providing a clear idea as to how we want to play, as well as providing a pathway for development and the execution of our style of play. In addition, we need to create and strengthen our cohesiveness as a team and establish and grow our identity."