Michele Cornish is now in her sixth year as the head women's soccer coach at Macalester College. The Scots are 51-27-10 in five seasons under Cornish’s direction, including an appearance in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament finals in 2013.
Cornish, a former Macalester assistant, was head women's soccer coach at Division I University of North Carolina-Asheville from 1994 to 2010 and from 2010 and 2011 was the girls' soccer head coach at Shattuck-St. Mary's School in Faribault, Minnesota. She was an assistant under coach John Leaney at Macalester in 1991.
Cornish became head coach of the UNC-Asheville program in 1994, and at the age of 26, was one of the youngest coaches in the nation upon her hiring. However, she quickly made an impact with the young Asheville program that was in its third year of existence.
In 1995, she led the Bulldogs to the Big South Conference championship and school-record 16-5 mark. Asheville finished the season in second place in the league standings and advanced to the league title game for the first time. Cornish led the Bulldogs to back-to-back Big South Conference regular-season titles in 2004 and 2005.In 2006, she guided Asheville to the Big South Conference title and a trip to the NCAA Tournament. The women's soccer team became the first female team at Asheville to ever go to the NCAA championships. She finished her Bulldog career with 134 victories, making her not just the all-time winningest coach at UNC Asheville but the Big South as well. Cornish led Asheville to the Big South Conference title game seven different times and was a two-time Big South Conference Coach of the Year.
As a student-athlete, she played at George Mason University (Va.) and won the Division I national championship in 1985 by defeating UNC Chapel Hill. Prior to her college career, she was selected to the first U.S. representative women's soccer team to play in China, and was the team's youngest player and leading scorer during the tour.
Career Record
| School |
Season |
W |
L |
T |
Pct. |
| UNC-Asheville |
1994 |
7 |
10 |
1 |
.417 |
| UNC-Asheville |
1995 |
16 |
5 |
0 |
.762 |
| UNC-Asheville |
1996 |
10 |
3 |
1 |
.750 |
| UNC-Asheville |
1997 |
9 |
8 |
2 |
.526 |
| UNC-Asheville |
1998 |
11 |
7 |
1 |
.605 |
| UNC-Asheville |
1999 |
5 |
10 |
3 |
.361 |
| UNC-Asheville |
2000 |
4 |
12 |
1 |
.265 |
| UNC-Asheville |
2001 |
5 |
8 |
0 |
.385 |
| UNC-Asheville |
2002 |
9 |
8 |
1 |
.528 |
| UNC-Asheville |
2003 |
11 |
6 |
3 |
.625 |
| UNC-Asheville |
2004 |
11 |
6 |
2 |
.632 |
| UNC-Asheville |
2005 |
13 |
6 |
0 |
.684 |
| UNC-Asheville |
2006 |
10 |
7 |
3 |
.575 |
| UNC-Asheville |
2007 |
3 |
14 |
1 |
.194 |
| UNC-Asheville |
2008 |
5 |
13 |
1 |
.289 |
| UNC-Asheville |
2009 |
5 |
10 |
1 |
.344 |
| Macalester |
2012 |
10 |
6 |
1 |
.618 |
| Macalester |
2013 |
13 |
5 |
1 |
.711 |
| Macalester |
2014 |
9 |
8 |
1 |
.528 |
| Macalester |
2015 |
10 |
3 |
4 |
.706 |
| Macalester |
2016 |
9 |
5 |
3 |
.618 |
| Macalester |
2017 |
7 |
6 |
4 |
.529 |
| Totals |
22 Seasons |
192 |
166 |
35 |
.533 |
| Macalester |
6 Seasons |
58 |
33 |
14 |
.619 |
