SIU Edwardsville Cougars men's soccer
The SIU Edwardsville Cougars men's soccer team represents Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE) in the Mid-American Conference of NCAA Division I soccer. The Cougars play their home matches on Bob Guelker Field at Ralph Korte Stadium located in the southwest corner of the SIUE campus in Edwardsville, Illinois. A nationwide search for a new head coach began in December, 2014, and on January 27, 2015 Mario Sanchez, the associate head coach of the Louisville Cardinals was introduced as the new Cougars head coach.
SIU Edwardsville Cougars
SIUE entered intercollegiate athletic competition during the 1967–68 school year. At that time, college athletics was almost exclusively the realm of the male student athlete, but times were on the verge of change. On October 4, 1972, SIUE's first women's team took the field, as women's athletic director and coach Rosemarie Archangel's field hockey team played and won its first game. Field hockey has since been discontinued, and other sports have come and gone. Until 2007, when the university began the transition to Division I, SIUE had competed in Division II, except in men's soccer, which competed in Division I from 1973 through 1995. From 1994 to 2008, the Cougars were members of the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) after having previously been an independent. As part of the move to Division I, the Cougars joined the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) in 2008. The 2011–12 season was the Cougars' first campaigns for the OVC regular season titles, although they were not eligible for post-season play until 2012–13 except in softball and men's soccer, which were "fast-tracked" by the NCAA.