Margueritte Aozasa established herself as a proven winner, capturing a national championship and two conference titles in just four seasons as a head coach. In her first season in 2022, she made history by becoming the first rookie head coach and first woman of color ever to win the NCAA Division I Women’s Soccer championship.

Aozasa posted a 67-13-9 overall record from 2022-25 and earned her 50th career victory in just her 60th game on Oct. 13, 2024.

After being hired in December 2021 as the sixth head coach in UCLA women’s soccer history, Aozasa promptly guided her team to the program’s second NCAA Championship and a school record-tying 22 victories while leading the United Soccer Coaches National Staff of the Year. The first-year head coach led UCLA to a No. 1 national ranking for the final nine weeks of the season, with the Bruins ascending to the top after a road sweep of No. 2 Duke and No. 1 North Carolina on Labor Day weekend. The Bruins began the year by winning their first 13 games, setting a new school record for best start to a season. After UCLA finished the regular season with a 17-2 record, Aozasa was voted the Pac-12 Coach of the Year, becoming the first rookie head coach ever to win the honor. Aozasa coached the 2022 Pac-12 Defender of the Year Lilly Reale, who went on to become UCLA’s third Honda Sport Award winner.

In 2023, Aozasa won her first conference team title and second consecutive Pac-12 Coach of the Year award, as the Bruins finished the season with a 16-2-1 record. During UCLA’s inaugural season in the Big Ten Conference in 2024, Aozasa’s Bruins ran through the conference tournament with three shutout victories, culminating in a 5-0 win over Rutgers in the championship final. The five runs scored were a Big Ten championship game record. UCLA finished the 2025 season with a 12-5-4 record and a team goals against average of 0.47 that ranked No. 2 in the nation.

Producing professional players has also been a strong suit for Aozasa. A total of 22 Bruins coached by Aozasa played professionally, including 10 players from the 2024 squad.

Aozasa has also coached at the U.S. Youth National Team level. Following the 2022 collegiate season, she joined the coaching staff of the U.S. Under-23 National Team as an assistant coach for a training camp in France in February 2023, and as the head coach of the U-23s at the Thorns Preseason Tournament in March 2023. In the June of 2024, she was an assistant coach for the U.S. U-20 team at the Concacaf Championships, as they qualified for the FIFA Under-20 World Cup.

As an assistant coach at Stanford from 2015-21, Aozasa coached the Cardinal to great success, including NCAA Championships in 2017 and 2019 and Pac-12 titles from 2015-19. The 2018 team also reached the College Cup. Stanford’s record during Aozasa’s time on the Farm was 125-19-8, with the Cardinal posting a +318 goal differential (412 goals for, 94 goals against).

Two of her Stanford athletes won the Hermann Trophy in three consecutive years from 2017-2019 - Andi Sullivan (2017) and Catarina Macario (2018, 2019) - and four Cardinal players were selected as the No. 1 pick in the NWSL Draft – Sullivan in 2018, Tierna Davidson in 2019, Sophia Smith in 2020 and Naomi Girma in 2022.

As a recruiter, Aozasa brought in multiple Top 5 recruiting classes, include the No. 2-ranked class of 2022. She coached six U.S. Women’s National Team players through their collegiate careers on the Farm – Sullivan, Macario, Davidson, Smith, Alana Cook and Jane Campbell. Additionally, Aozasa coached three players who played on Women’s Champion League teams – Macario (Olympique Lyonnais), Cook (PSG) and Kyra Carusa (HB Koge).

Aozasa and the Stanford coaching staff were honored as the 2016 NSCAA Pacific Region Staff of the Year, and Aozasa was selected to the United Soccer Coaches’ 30 Under 30 Class in 2018-19.

In addition to coaching at Stanford, Aozasa was the ECNL Head Coach for 10 years at MVLA Soccer Club, which is ranked by Top Drawer Soccer as the No. 6-ranked youth club in the country. Her 02 and 03 MVLA ECNL squads were Champions League teams with a combined 35 players on NCAA Division I rosters.

Aozasa was a four-year starter under head coach Jerry Smith at Santa Clara University from 2008-11, playing at midfield and center back and serving as team captain from 2010-11. A WCC All-Academic team member, she graduated from Santa Clara in 2012 with a major in psychology and minors in public health and Spanish. In 2020, she earned a Masters in Coaching and Athletic Administration from Concordia University, Irvine and received her U.S. Soccer “A” Coaching License.

She is one of just four Asian American women currently serving as a head coach for a NCAA women’s soccer team.

Aozasa is married to Mykell Bates, who is an assistant coach for Angel City FC. They have a one year-old girl, Akari.

Name	Title	Email Address	Alma Mater
Margueritte Aozasa	Head Coach	wsoccer@athletics.ucla.edu	Santa Clara, '12
Gof Boyoko	Assistant Coach	wsoccer@athletics.ucla.edu	UCSB, '13
Molly Poletto	Assistant Coach	wsoccer@athletics.ucla.edu	Utah, '15
Chelsea Tudela	Volunteer Assistant Coach	wsoccer@athletics.ucla.edu	UCLA, '14

University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics

2022 Women's Soccer Coaching Staff

Coaching Staff