Brian Ainscough Head Coach First season at NU: 2005 Alma Mater: Fairleigh Dickinson '87

Men's Soccer 2007 •TEAM PAGE | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | TEAM STATS

Brian Ainscough enters his fourth season as head coach of the Northeastern men’s soccer team in 2008. Ainscough led the Huskies to their second CAA playoff appearance with a 6-4-1 CAA mark and an 8-10-2 overall record in 2007. Northeastern has now made the CAA playoffs twice in the three years it has been a part of the conference. Ainscough has led his team on two impressive late season runs over the last two years. Last year Northeastern went 6-2-1 in its final nine regular season games to earn a playoff birth. In 2006 the Huskies ran off six straight victories in October to get into the playoffs. The Huskies’ improvement from 2005 to 2006 was the biggest single-season improvement since 1990. With only three seniors lost and three All-CAA players returning, the Huskies are in position to compete with the top teams in the CAA and make a run in the postseason in 2008. This seasons’ squad will be young but talented. First team All-CAA defensman Lars Okland will lead the defense along with CAA All-Rookie selection Matt Sanford. The offense will look to get production out of All-CAA third teamer Alexander Volk. Northeastern returns eight of 11 starters from a year ago. Before arriving on Huntington Ave., Ainscough spent five years at Div. III powerhouse Bowdoin College and five at Providence College. At Bowdoin, Ainscough’s team ranked No. 1 in New England and captured the NESCAC regular season crown and a playoff bid in 2002. In 2003, he led the Polar Bears to a top-10 national ranking, a second-place finish in the NESCAC Tournament and a bid to the NCAA Div. III Tournament. While coaching at Bowdoin, Ainscough also coached for the U.S. Soccer Olympic Development Program for teams in Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Maine. He has held Brian Ainscough Soccer Academy Camps in New England since 1993. Prior to Bowdoin, Ainscough was head coach at Providence and turned a losing program into a .500 team (9-9-1) in four seasons. In 1998, PC had a winning record (6-4-1) in conference play and earned a Big East Tournament bid for the first time since 1987. Ainscough started his coaching career at Villanova as an assistant in 1991. In 1992, he joined his former coach, Ed Kelly, as an assistant at Boston College for three seasons. A native of Dublin, Ireland, Ainscough played for the 1983 Irish Youth National Team before coming to the U.S. to attend Fairleigh Dickinson University. He earned All-Mid Atlantic Conference honors all four years and graduated in 1987. After college, Ainscough was a first round pick in the Major Indoor Soccer League’s annual draft. He played five years in the American Professional Soccer League for the New Jersey Eagles, Penn-Jersey Spirits and Boston Bolts, earning APSL All-State honors in 1988-90. He currently resides in Canton, Mass., with his wife, Victoria, and sons, Alexander and Nicholas.