Women's Soccer
- Title:
- Head Coach
- Email:
- acromwell@athletics.ucla.edu
Cromwell went 149-30-20 at UCLA and 372-128-47 overall in 25 years of coaching at the collegiate level. She earned her 300th career victory on Oct. 5, 2017. Academically, her teams earned the United Soccer Coaches College Team Academic Award in each of her seasons at UCLA. Additionally, the 2018 Bruins won the Pac-12 Sportsmanship Award, and the 2017 squad received a Team Ethics and Sportsmanship Award from the United Soccer Coaches.
Cromwell produced professional and national team standouts year in and year out at UCLA. Six Cromwell-coached Bruins participated in the 2019 World Cup, including three โ Abby Dahlkemper, Sam Mewis and Mal Pugh โ from the winning U.S. squad. Four of her UCLA players participated in the medal round at the 2020 Olympics, with Jessie Fleming leading Canada to its first gold medal. UCLA players have been part of the last three NWSL Championship teams, including 2021 champions Ashley Sanchez and Karina Rodriguez. Cromwell also coached 2021 NWSL Defender of the Year Caprice Dydasco.
In her first season at UCLA, Cromwellโs 2013 Bruins finished with a 22-1-3 record and went unbeaten over their last 21 games. They gave up just one goal during the NCAA Tournament and only eight goals all season, leading the nation in goals against average (0.296). In addition to winning the national championship, the team won the Pac-12 title and tied the school record for most victories in a season. Dahlkemper won the Honda Award, and three Bruins earned All-America honors, with five receiving first-team NSCAA All-Region honors. Cromwell herself was named Soccer Americaโs Coach of the Year, the first-such honor for a UCLA womenโs soccer coach.
Year two of the Cromwell era was nearly as successful, as the Bruins went undefeated in their first 23 games before falling to Virginia in the NCAA Quarterfinals. Still, the Bruins earned a 21-1-2 record, won a second-straight Pac-12 title, set multiple school records, and accumulated a plethora of awards, including the Honda Award for Mewis and a school-record four NSCAA All-America honors. Cromwell earned NSCAA Pacific Region Coach of the Year honors.
Although the 2015 Bruins went 8-10-1 after losing nine starters, Cromwell quickly put the pieces in place to rebuild, signing a blockbuster recruiting class in February 2016 that included three Top 10 players, led by U.S. National Team starter Pugh, Canadian Olympic bronze medalist Fleming and U.S. Under-20 National Team standout Marley Canales. Although Pugh and Canales sat out the 2016 season while with the U-20s, Fleming and her freshman teammates, six of whom were in the starting lineup in the postseason, led the Bruins to a 15-5-2 record and to the NCAA Round of 16, where they were eliminated on penalty kicks to the No. 1 overall seed West Virginia. Fleming went on to earn NSCAA All-America honors.
The 2017 season started out with seven-straight victories and a six-week run at the No. 1 national ranking. UCLA set school and national attendance records, drawing a NCAA regular season all-time record 11,925 fans to their home regular season finale against USC. UCLA finished the season with a 19-3-3 record and earned its second College Cup appearance under Cromwell.
Cromwell led the 2018 Bruins to a 17-3-2 record and a 13-game unbeaten streak to end the season. UCLA advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals but fell in penalty kicks at North Carolina. Cromwellโs Bruins led the nation in points per game (8.36) and assists per game (2.82) and were tied for first in total goals (61).
The Bruins returned to the College Cup in 2019 after outscoring opponents 15-1 in the first four rounds of the NCAA Tournament. UCLA finished the year with an 18-5-1 record and won nine of its last 10 games. Fleming was a finalist for the Hermann Trophy for the second time in her career, and Kaiya McCullough won Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year honors.
In a COVID-19-delayed 2020 season, Cromwell led UCLA to a 13-1-3 record and the Pac-12 title with a 9-1-1 conference record, earning Pac-12 Coach of the Year honors for the second time. Her Bruins earned the No. 3 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament and advanced to the Round of 16 for the seventh time in her tenure. Three of Cromwellโs players earned All-America honors, and the Bruin coaching staff was selected the United Soccer Coaches Pacific Region Coaching Staff of the Year.
Cromwellโs 2021 squad repeated as Pac-12 champions, winning the conference title in the final game of the regular season by beating city rival USC, 3-1. The Bruins went unbeaten during the regular season and had a string of eight consecutive shutouts from Aug. 22-Sept. 24.
In addition to coaching, Cromwell was also instrumental in securing a $5-million dollar donation for the transformation of the North Athletic Field into the new home for UCLA Soccer, Wallis Annenberg Stadium.
Cromwell came to UCLA in 2013 after 14 years as head coach at the University of Central Florida. From 1999-2012, she guided the Knights to a 203-83-26 record, 11 NCAA Tournament appearances, four Atlantic Sun Tournament championships, four Conference USA regular-season titles and the 2012 C-USA tournament title. Cromwellโs Knights made a NCAA Elite Eight run in 2011 that included a defeat of North Carolina in the third round. Cromwellโs UCF players earned 96 all-conference honors and 38 National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) All-Region selections. They also amassed nearly 300 conference academic awards during her 14 years in Orlando, including 10 NSCAA Womenโs Collegiate Scholar All-American awards and one Senior CLASS Award.
Prior to Central Florida, Cromwell was head coach at University of Maryland-Baltimore County from 1996-97 and an assistant coach at the University of Virginia from 1992-94.
With a 372-128-47 overall record and a .723 winning percentage at the close of the 2021 season, Cromwell ranks in the NCAAโs all-time Top 25 in win percentage and total wins.
A native of Annandale, Va. and an inaugural member of the Annandale High School Athletic Hall of Fame, Cromwell graduated from the University of Virginia with a bachelorโs degree in biology. Team captain of the 1991 Cavaliers team that advanced to the Final Four, she was a two-time All-America selection, a finalist for the 1991 Hermann Trophy and a four-time All-ACC honoree.
Following her successful collegiate career, Cromwell earned 55 caps while representing the U.S. Womenโs National Team. She was a member of the United Statesโ 1995 FIFA Womenโs World Cup team and an alternate for the gold medal-winning U.S. Olympic team in 1996. She later played professionally for the Washington Freedom, Atlanta Beat and the San Jose CyberRays of the Womenโs United Soccer Association and was inducted into the Virginia-DC Soccer Hall of Fame.
Cromwell has served on the U.S. Soccer Board of Directors and the NCAA Menโs and Womenโs Soccer Rules Committee. From 2002 to 2006, she was a member of the Presidentโs Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, appointed by George W. Bush. She is also a member of the coaching staff that the State Department sends as an envoy to other countries to empower girls and women through soccer. In 2020, she became a founding investor of Angel City FC, which will begin play in the NWSL in 2022.
