After only a years service, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee womens soccer assistant coach Kristen St. Clair is moving on.

St. Clair has accepted the position as the head coach at California Baptist University in Riverside, Calif.

It was a wonderful experience for me and I am thankful for the opportunity to be a part of the Milwaukee soccer family, said St. Clair. Im very excited for this opportunity. I now have the chance to be a head coach at a top university and be closer to family. It was not an opportunity I could pass up on both a personal and professional level.

Despite her short time here at UWM, St. Clair helped oversee a Panthers squad that set several school records last season. St. Clair specialized in goalkeeping and worked closely with sophomore Erin Kane and freshman Ilana Bar-Av.

Kane broke the school and league record with a 0.49 goals against average and tied her own school and league record with 13 shutouts.

As a player, St. Clair was a four-time, All-American at Westmont College in Santa Barbara and led the team to the NAIA Championship in 1999.

From there, St. Clair went on to play in the Womens Premier Soccer League for the Silicon Valley Red Devils before accepting the position as goalkeeper coach at Westmont. She then won another national championship with the team in 2003, but this time it was as a coach.

Then it was on to UC-Santa Barbra as an assistant coach finally here to Milwaukee. In St. Clairs first year, the Panthers won their seventh straight regular season Horizon League championship and received their first at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament.

The Panthers advanced to the second round of the tournament only to fall to the top-ranked Notre Dame 1-0.

It was a brief stay for Kristen, but she had a big impact, said head coach Michael Moynihan. Shes very passionate about what she does, very committed and professional in terms of her integrity and character and that made for a tremendous fit for our program.

St. Clair will stay with the Panthers until the conclusion of the spring season and will officially begin her career at California Baptist on April 25.

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