Kris Anderson joins the Rutgers-Camden women’s soccer program this season, becoming the fourth head coach in the Lady Raptors’ team history.
A Mt. Laurel resident, Anderson has spent the last six seasons as an assistant coach with the Arcadia University women’s soccer program.
“I’m excited,” said Anderson, who visited Rutgers-Camden last fall when Arcadia defeated the Lady Raptors, 1-0, on Oct. 7. “Playing against them last year they seemed to be pretty technical and they seemed to be a hard-working team. I think this is a great opportunity.”
Anderson will be looking to help the Raptors rebound from an 8-10-2 season, only the second losing campaign since the program started in 1998. Rutgers-Camden posted its third-best goals-against average (1.02) in program history, but also suffered a team-record nine shutouts. Anderson is ready rebuild the Raptors’ program while facing life in the tough New Jersey Athletic Conference.
“It’s a challenge,” he said. “Top to bottom, the NJAC is probably the toughest conference in the country.”
Anderson knows plenty about that conference. After playing four years of scholastic soccer – his first two at Willingboro High School and his last two at Lenape – he played collegiate soccer at one of the NJAC’s powerhouse programs, Richard Stockton College. A center back and marking back with the Ospreys, Anderson played two seasons for Stockton before injuries and his work schedule forced him out of the collegiate game.
Anderson graduated from Stockton in 1998 as a Public Health major, with a concentration in Health Care Administration. He was offered a professional contract with the Eastern Shore Sharks of the USISL, but turned it down and started coaching and training soccer players in South Jersey in 1999. His Highland team, which was known as both the Lightning and the Fusion during his tenure, was a four-time state semifinalist and a two-time state finalist. He also coached the Pennsylvania-based FC Bucks squad to the state finals and regional quarterfinals.
Anderson still serves as the head coach of the Atlantic United Storm Girls Soccer Team, which was a State Cup quarterfinalist in 2007 and was ranked fourth in New Jersey, 20th in Region 1 and 64th nationally.
Anderson joined the Arcadia University women’s program in 2003 as an assistant under new Head Coach Rick Brownell. He helped the Knights qualify for their conference tournament every season, first in the Pennsylvania Athletic Conference and later in the Middle Atlantic States Collegiate Athletic Corporation, also known as the Middle Atlantic Conference. Arcadia won the PAC title and earned an NCAA berth in 2005, and the Knights lost in overtime in the 2007 MASCAC Freedom Conference title game.
Anderson has been a personal trainer for numerous State ODP (Olympic Development Program) players, several regional ODP players and a pair of national ODP players. His former players have played at all divisions of NCAA soccer, including one who has won a pair of national titles at the University of North Carolina.
Anderson’s staff at Rutgers-Camden will include returning assistant coach Byron Carmichael, along with newcomers Wendy Halina and former Rutgers-Camden player Jayme Gatti, who completed her collegiate eligibility with the Raptors last season.
Anderson is a sixth-grade teacher at the Ulysses S. Wiggins Elementary School in Camden. He and his wife Jennifer have been married for nine years and have two sons, Ryan, age 6, and Aaron, age 3.
