Erin Brunelle was named Biola Women's Soccer's sixth head coach in the summer of 2015. In Brunelle's first year she took her team to the NAIA National Championships where they advanced to the second round. In 2017 she continued to make history, leading a talent-laden Biola team to the program's first NCCAA national title and started 2021 as the winningest coach in BUWS history. Fall 2022 will be her ninth year as the leader of the Eagles.
Brunelle began her coaching journey at Biola in 2009 as an assistant coach. She served in this capacity for seven years until becoming BU's head coach in 2015. Brunelle has continued a tradition at BU that was started by her mother, Judy, who graduated as an Eagle in 1967.
| Brunelle's Record at Biola |
Year
2015
2016
17-18
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
TOTAL |
Overall
15-4-3
15-2-2
Biola
17-3-2
7-7-4
11-5-2
2-2
7-8-2
74-31-15
(.679) |
Conference
7-1-2 (1st)
8-0-2 (2nd)
Enters the
8-3-2 (4th)
5-4-2 (6th)
8-2-1 (3rd)
1-2
5-4-1 (5th)
42-16-10
(.691) |
Playoffs
NAIA Nats. - 2nd Rd.
NAIA Nats. - 1st Rd.
PacWest Conference
NCCAA Champions
-
-
*Reduced due to Covid-19
- |
Brunelle's Eagles began the 2021 campaign with a two-match winning streak and an early season jolt from redshirt sophomore Anna Boyer. Boyer recorded four shutouts in the first month for the Eagles and continued to end the year with 57 saves. Boyer's 57 saves was the second-best in the conference and fourth-best in program history for a single season. Brunelle's team finished the year strong with a 2-1-1 home stretch which secured them a fifth place conference finish. The Eagles closed the season out with four All-PacWest selections.
Brunelle picked up on All-District CoSIDA selection, a prestigious athletic and academic acheivement, in Katelyn Penner. Penner competed in all but seven minutes in the 2021 season and was one of only two athletes recognized from the PacWest Conference.
The COVID-19 pandemic shortened the 2020 campaign for Brunelle and the Eagles. The team notched a 2-2 overall record in the spring of 2021. With her second win of the season, Brunelle picked up her 67th victory for Biola, making her the winningest coach in program history.
The Eagles had great overall success in 2019 and appeared in numerous West Region polls over the course of their first season with NCAA Postseason eligibility. Biola Women's Soccer posted a winning record on the road, went 6-0-2 over its last eight matches at Al Barbour Field and posted a seven-match shutout streak from September through October. That six-week defensive stand resulted in an 11-match unbeaten streak (10-0-1 and a new NCAA-Era record for the program) and included all-time program records for career shutouts set by senior Christina Rodriguez and minutes played by senior Madyson Brown.
Brown would go onto set records for minutes played (6.981) and matches starts (77) among all male and female soccer players at Biola dating back to 1960 and earned multiple year-end honors, including PacWest Defender of the Year and United Soccer Coaches All-West Region recognition. Rodriguez was named PacWest Goalkeeper of the Year and sophomore Katelyn Penner was named to two All-West Region teams in addition to earning an All-PacWest First Team selection for the second-consecutive year. Centerback Alyssa Chavez also appeared on the First Team, seniors Colie Martin and Hali Oakes were on the Second Team, and freshmen Halie Jamir and Madi Reeves both earned their first all-conference recognition when they landed on the Third Team.
The 2018 season still had its share of firsts for Brunelle's group, as the Eagles big road trips to the Bay Area and to Hawaii for conference matches. The Eagles collected three wins on those two trips, with freshman scoring three goals and two of the game-winners in those contests. Freshman midfielder Katelyn Penner scored two of those game-winning goals and earned All-PacWest First Team honors alongside Sarah Jeffries, who lead the Eagles in all shooting categories. With five all-conference honors in 2018, Biola had two more All-PacWest recipients than it did the year prior, with Annmarie Alvarez, Colie Martin and Hali Oakes also landing on All-PacWest teams.
Entering a new conference in the PacWest as an NCAA Division II member did not slow Biola down in the slightest after getting 15 wins the previous season. The Eagles started the 2017 regular season with four-straight wins and finished fourth in the PacWest while going undefeated at home.
The Eagles 12-3-2 regular season record earned them a spot in the NCCAA playoffs, where they swept through five matches with a 13-to-0 goal differential and won the NCCAA Women's Soccer Championship. The Eagles' definitely earned the program's first national championship in grand fashion: Biola finished its season with eight-consecutive clean sheets and 807-straight minutes without conceding a goal.
As a result of the championship victory, Brunelle earned Coach of the Year awards from the NCCAA and United Soccer Coaches while her players collected three All-PacWest honors, three NCCAA All-American honors and four NCCAA All-Tournament nods. Junior centerback Madyson Brown was named the Championship's Most Outstanding Player and the NCCAA Player of the Year.
2016 was a continuation of the upward swing of the Biola Women's Soccer program under the guidance of Brunelle. She led the team to an undefeated regular season 14-0-2 and a spot in the GSAC Tournament finals for a second year in a row.
The Eagles were selected as a NAIA National Tournament Opening Round host for the first time in program history as they made it into the national tournament field for the second consecutive season.
Brunelle was rewarded for her efforts with a second-consecutive Golden State Athletic Coach of the Year award and five of her players earned all-conference honors that year, with Madyson Brown and Cat Newberry also earning NAIA All-American honors.
Her first season at the helm of this Biola Women's Soccer program was the most successful season the program experienced in over a decade. The Eagles won the Golden State Athletic Conference regular season championship and qualified for the NAIA National Tournament for the first time since 2004.
Her effort that year was recognized by the conference with the 2015 GSAC Coach of the Year award. She also coached five players to All-GSAC honors and two more to NAIA All-American recognition, including NAIA All-American first team honors for freshman Madyson Brown.
Brunelle is a long-time coach who has a playing history in high school soccer, volleyball and softball and was a collegiate soccer player at Colorado Christian University. She is littered all over the record books at CCU and was inducted into their Hall of Fame in 2008.
Brunelle's time at CCU saw her achieve recognition as a two-time team captain, four-time all-conference first team athlete and 2001 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Player of the Year. In addition to that, she was a two-time NSCAA/NCAA All-Midwest Region selection, CCU Athletics Senior Award winner, 1998 RMAC Freshman of the Year and a 2001 member of the conference's All-Academic team.
She graduated from Colorado Christian in 2002 with a B.S. in Mathematics and an E.M. in Biblical Studies.
Following her time there she spent eight years playing in various professional, semi-pro and amateur soccer leagues, including time on the Addis Eagles, a professional team based in Ethiopia. She also served as an assistant coach at Rio Hondo Community College, Monte Vista Christian School, Stevenson High School and CSU Monterey Bay before beginning her journey at Biola.
She helped lead Rio Hondo to a conference championship in 2006 and helped Monte Vista to the 2007-08 Monterey Bay League Co-Championship.
While she is not spending her time coaching, she enjoys exercising, cooking and reading. She makes her home in La Mirada, California.
She has this to say about her experience at Biola:
"I am honored to be a part of the community of Biola Women's Soccer. I enjoy the challenge of continuing the legacy of a program that glorifies Christ on and off the field. It is a legacy that existed long before I came to Biola. I am encouraged by the coaching staff and the players who strive to be more than just a soccer team competing to win and develop athletically. We are a family living out our faith together in hope of pointing others to Christ."
