Coaches


• 2005 Women's Soccer Coaches


Head Coach Jeff Leightman Reigning America East Coach of the Year Jeff Leightman has made winning seasons and post-season play commonplace at Binghamton, where his teams have won at a 68% clip during his seven-year tenure. Leightman has built a reputation for creating high expectations and producing equally lofty results. The 2004 campaign was a perfect example of his leadership. The Bearcats were picked to finish eighth in the 10-team league, but instead won 14 games and captured both the regular-season and postseason conference championships to gain the program’s first-ever NCAA Division I tournament berth. Since taking over the program in 1998, his teams have averaged nearly 12 wins a season (68%) and played post-season five times. During that challenging time, the women’s soccer program moved through the University’s divisional transition with unparalleled success. In 2001, his high-scoring Bearcats went 12-5-2 and advanced to the ECAC semifinals — despite facing the uphill battle of being an independent program. The offense pumped in 55 goals (2.9 per game), which ranked fifth in the entire nation, behind only Santa Clara, Penn State, North Carolina and Florida. The 2001 team earned its post-season invitation with a 10-game unbeaten streak to end the regular season, and was selected as the top-ranked first-year Division I program by Soccer Buzz. Leightman “set the table” for Division I success while still a Division II program. In 2000, his squad played a full Division I schedule while still a Division II program, and the team’s 11-5-1 record indicated its readiness for soccer at the highest level. His 1999 squad sported an early-season national ranking, a mid-season eight-game win streak, and a successful return trip to the post-season in the form of ECAC runner-up honors. In his initial campaign in 1998, Leightman steered BU to an ECAC championship and top-20 national ranking in the program’s first year of Division II. A 1995 graduate of Binghamton, Leightman returned to his alma mater in ’98 and wasted no time restoring BU’s place among the nation’s elite. His squad cut in half the loss total from the prior year, and put itself in consideration for an NCAA tournament berth. His team’s 14-3-1 record represented the second-highest win percentage in the program’s 15-year history (.806), and if not for BU’s “rookie” status in Division II, Leightman’s squad might have received the NCAA nod. Instead, BU parlayed the top seed in the ECAC tournament into the program’s sixth post-season championship. As Binghamton began its historic tenure at NCAA Division I, Leightman was well served by his previous experience at the highest level of collegiate soccer. Prior to arriving at Binghamton, he completed stints with national power University of North Carolina (1996-97) and Division I Villanova University (1997-98). While at Chapel Hill, he trained numerous U.S. National Team members, including Siri Mullinix (GK), Cindy Parlow (F) and Lorrie Fair (MF). At Villanova, Leightman served as assistant coach and goalkeeper coach of a Wildcats team that advanced to the Big East semifinals and ECAC tournament. He also was co-director of the Villanova Girls’ Soccer Camp and served as the program’s NCAA compliance liaison. As an undergraduate at BU, Leightman worked as a goalkeeper coach and as a student athletic trainer before receiving his bachelor’s degree in biological sciences in 1995. As a senior, he was honored with the prestigious Jake Pitler Award for his contributions to the athletics department. Leightman holds an Advanced National diploma from the National Soccer Coaches Association of America, and has directed numerous camps and clinics across the Northeast. Working with college-bound athletes, he also coached the New York State West Olympic Development Program Under-17 team in 1999, and was head coach of the Under-16 team in 2000. Leightman is currently on the Region I ODP staff, coaching the region’s most elite players.

Assistant Coach Sarah McClellan Sarah McClellan begins her first year at Binghamton in 2006. McClellan arrives from Drury University, where she was the assistant coach the past two years. In addition, McClellan was also the head coach of the Maryland Pride in the Women's Premier Soccer League until she accepted the position at Binghamton. "We are very happy to have Sarah join our staff," head coach Jeff Leightman said. "She will add a great deal to our program. Sarah brings a wealth of experience that will help us grow as a program." McClellan is a 2003 graduate of Maryland where she played under U.S. Soccer Hall of Fame member and World Cup Champion Shannon-Higgins Cirovski. The Terrapins advanced to the NCAA Tournament twice in her three seasons on the squad. After earned her bachelor's degree in biochemistry, McClellan completed her master's degree in physical education at Drury this past May. Prior to her two years at Drury (2004 and 2005), McClellan was the lead assistant at Goucher College during the 2003 season. That squad went 8-7-4 and in the process, completed the second-best turnaround in the nation during the year. "I am excited to be working with Jeff and the Binghamton program," McClelland said. "This program has had a lot of success and there is a lot of future potential for it to keep doing well in the America East Conference."

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