Margueritte Aozasa, MCAA ’21

In December, Concordia alumna Margueritte Aozasa, MCAA 21岁成为NCAA女足历史上第一位在担任主教练的第一年就赢得全国冠军的教练. 她所在的加州大学洛杉矶分校棕熊队以3比2战胜了北卡罗莱纳大学, scoring twice in the final ten minutes to force overtime, in which they sealed the game.

“Our whole staff hugged, our team ran onto the field and then poured Powerade on me,” Aozasa told Concordia magazine. “It was so surreal, I couldn’t believe it happened.” 

虽然年仅三十出头，但奥扎萨教练已经建立了一份强大的足球履历. As an assistant coach, 她帮助斯坦福红衣主教队的女子足球队在2017年和2019年获得了NCAA锦标赛冠军，并在2015-19年获得了Pac-12冠军. During her time at Stanford, the team went 125-19-8. 她和斯坦福大学的教练组被评为2016年NSCAA太平洋地区年度最佳教练组, 而Aozasa在2018-19赛季入选了美国足球教练30名30岁以下的班级.

这位湾区人还在MVLA足球俱乐部执教了10年, one of the top youth clubs in the country. 她从小就在俱乐部打球，在圣克拉拉大学(Santa Clara University)当了四年的首发球员. 

Even with all her success, 2018年，她来到了一个想要充分发挥自己潜力的地方——这个追求让她 康考迪亚大学的教练和体育管理硕士(MCAA)课程. 

The initial impetus was Stanford’s loss in the final four.

“At that moment, in that panic, I felt I had plateaued and wasn’t contributing to my staff,” Aozasa says. “我想进一步拓展自己作为教练的能力，所以我开始研究硕士课程.”

A friend had completed Concordia’s MCAA program Aozasa说，这“真的让她为成为主教练的面试过程做好了准备”. “The program seemed very applicable.” Within a few weeks Aozasa applied and began taking classes.

“It was very thoughtful, very thorough, and encouraged a lot of self-reflection as a coach and leader,” she says of the program. “I really enjoyed that. The work was challenging in a good way. I really enjoyed my interaction with the faculty. 我发现每个人都非常支持和理解我，并为我作为教练的个人成长投资. 我进行了许多发人深省的对话，讨论如何成为一名领导者，以及作为一名教练，我的未来道路会是怎样的.”

2021年，排名前十的加州大学洛杉矶分校(UCLA)出现了一个主教练职位的空缺. “我申请了这份工作，虽然我并不打算成为一名主教练，”Aozasa说. “I loved my experience at Stanford, 但加州大学洛杉矶分校似乎是一个很好的机会，所以我抓住机会看看它会去哪里.”

她没想到会收到回复，但还是收到了，24小时内她就坐上了飞往洛杉矶的飞机.A. for follow-up interviews. Concordia’s MCAA program helped prepare her for the whirlwind process, she says. “

[In the MCAA program他们会让你整理出一份可以提交给潜在雇主的提案。. “I had gone through the thought exercise of completing that work, and a lot of the questions they asked in my interview process, I had thought about already. 作为一名教练，我经历了这些思维模式，经历了这些途径和情景，这真的很好.”

She was hired — and married — within a span of ten days. “I knew the talent UCLA had. I knew we could contend for a national championship,” she says. “但当我与球队面对面时，我就清楚了我们需要在场上和场下做多少工作. 我想在我们的比赛方式中灌输更多的纪律和组织.”

她忙着培养一种开放交流、努力工作和有趣的文化. “我确保我们的团队知道我们可以成为这个国家最具竞争力的球队之一，这仍然是最愉快的经历之一。,” she says.

Aozasa的计划是在休赛期尽可能多地教, 然后鼓励她的女孩们自由地发挥她们的最高运动技能. 她说道:“我们想让玩家相信自己的直觉，我们也会相信他们. “When in doubt, play what you see and feel. 这对我们的成功有很大的影响，因为我们的球员踢得很自信和自由. When you have talented players, they are here for a reason.” 

The first game was rough, 但熊队随后连续三场客场战胜了来自圣克拉拉的前十名球队, the University of North Carolina, and Duke.

 “That’s when I said this team has something special, 赢得总冠军所必需的一些无形的东西:韧性, competitiveness, the bond between players,” Coach Aozasa says. “Those things shone through.” 

Concordia’s education again offered an assist. One MCAA 任务是创建一个课程，培养团队成员的心理技能. “We did something very similar to that at UCLA,” Aozasa says. “Every week or so, 我们开了一个团队会议，确定了在场上或场下对我们团队有益的心理技能领域, as soccer players and adults.”

Conflict resolution was one skill-building exercise; another included a workshop on visualizing stressful moments in games as a way to prepare for when those moments actually happened.

The team went 18-2 in the regular season, was ranked #1 in the country for nine weeks, and sailed into the playoffs as one of four #1 regional seeds. Their semifinal match against Alabama, which boasted the highest-scoring offense in the country, became a statement 3-0 UCLA win.

“能在决赛前蓄势待发真是太棒了，”小坂说. 

The championship game, it turned out, was epic, 一名一年级教练对阵46岁的资深女足教练安森·多伦斯. 他在北卡罗来纳大学的项目赢得了21个女子足球冠军，第二高的是3个, for perspective — and was a perennial powerhouse.

The first half went scoreless, and fifteen minutes before trophies were hoisted, UNC scored again to make it 2-0. But UCLA battled back and scored five minutes later. 然后，在比赛还剩16秒时，他们又一次通过角球得分，将比赛拖入加时. 

“我们整个团队都在哭，这甚至不是为了赢，而是为了不输，”Aozasa说. “比赛真正的高潮是那个扳平比分的进球，因为你觉得赛季结束了，因为你在比赛还剩16秒的时候落后了.”

Neither team scored in the first overtime; then, with three minutes left, 棕熊队一脚射门，稳住了局面，夺得了冠军. “I didn’t even know how to feel. I pointed at our staff like, ‘We just did that,’” Aozasa says. 她的新婚丈夫，也是一名足球教练，和他们一起庆祝.

Having won championships at Stanford, 看到她的球员和工作人员“陶醉于第一次获胜的感觉”，Aozasa感到非常高兴,” she says. “I was watching like a proud mom, almost in tears.”

回到家乡，加州大学洛杉矶分校铺上了红地毯来庆祝，而小坂则接受了媒体的挑战. Then Aozasa and her team walked in the Rose Parade. 

Aozasa认为她的足球导师帮助她在职业生涯早期达到了很高的目标. She also says she feels “very fortunate to have gone through Concordia’s MCAA program. Looking back on my progress from assistant to head coach, it was hugely integral in helping me prepare.”

As for next year, “球员和工作人员都知道，我们刚刚触及了我们想要做的事情的表面,” says the now-second-year coach.