Paul Lawrence
Head Coach
plawrence@flsouthern.edu
Florida Southern
Division 2
Head Coach
plawrence@flsouthern.edu
Florida Southern
Division 2
Paul Lawrence is entering his fourth year as Florida Southerns head womens soccer coach after taking charge of the program December of 2016.
In his first year at Florida Southern, he guided the Mocs to an 8-3-4 overall record and 5-2-3 mark in Sunshine State Conference play. That represented a six-game improvement overall, a jump of six places in the SSC standings for their best regular-season finish in five years, and their first winning season since 2010. The eight wins were also the most by a first-year head coach in team history.
The one-year turn-around was not only reflected in Florida Southerns won-loss record, it was also demonstrated on the final stat sheet. The Moccasins increased their scoring output by nearly two goals per game (a difference of 1.71), there was a ten percent drop in goals-against average, and the teams shutout total more than doubled. It was the Mocs best season on offense since 2009, and their best on defense since 2011. Only two teams in the SSC scored more goals per game than Florida Southern just one year after the Mocs had finished ninth in that department, and they went from eighth in scoring margin to second.
Lawrence also returned the Moccasins to the SSC Tournament for the first time since 2013, and had them in contention for the NCAA Tournament as well. Florida Southern was ranked in the top eight of all three South Region polls conducted by the NCAA and was not eliminated from that race until the final game of the season. The Moccasins finished ninth in the United Soccer Coaches South Region Poll, their first postseason regional ranking since they were ninth at the end of the 2011 season.
Lawrences first team at Florida Southern picked up several individual awards as well, with three Moccasins making the All-Sunshine State Conference Womens Soccer Team, and one of them, Alexa Moberley, earning All-South Region honors. The three all-conference selections were the most since 2012, and Moberley was their first all-region performer in three years. The Mocs excelled in the classroom under Lawrence too with a school-record four womens soccer players landing on the academic all-district team, and senior defender Juliana Guida voted Second Team Academic All-American. A league-high 26 players made the SSC Commissioners Honor Roll and 10 did so with perfect 4.00 GPAs.
With his 8-3-4 record at Florida Southern, Lawrence now owns a career record of 43-23-7 in four seasons as a collegiate head coach. He previously served that role at Knox College in Illinois from 2014-16 where he led the Prairie Fire to a mark of 35-20-3. His final team there was the best in school history, going 19-1-1, winning the Midwest Conference regular season and tournament championships for the first time, and earning their first bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament.
That season saw the Prairie Fire set numerous school and conference records and become the first team at Knox College to go through the regular season undefeated since the 1919 football team went 8-0. They outscored their opponents 65-6, and posted 17 shutouts with a 0.28 goals-against average that ranked fifth in the nation in Division III. They also ranked third nationally in shutout percentage (.810), seventh in save percentage (.903), and 23rd in scoring offense (3.10 goals per game). Knox also earned a top-25 ranking in the NSCAA national poll for the first time in program history, five players earned All-MWC honors, three were named to the All-North Region Team, and Lawrence was selected the MWC Coach-of-the-Year.
When Lawrence was named the head womens soccer coach at Knox College in January of 2014, the Prairie Fire had not had a winning season in 18 years, not qualified for the conference tournament since 1995, nor won a conference game since 2011. After a 3-14 campaign in his first season, Lawrence guided them to a 13-5-2 record in 2015 and a spot in the conference championship game for the first time ever. Their 9½-game improvement was the third-best in NCAA Division III that year and tied for the ninth best all-time at that level. One year later, Lawrence led them to their school-record 19 wins and their first trip to the NCAA Tournament.
Lawrence came to Knox College from Northwood University in Michigan where he spent the 2012 and 2013 seasons as an assistant coach under Dean Pappas. He helped the Timberwolves make back-to-back Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournaments, and nearly upset undefeated and eventual national champion Grand Valley State in the 2013 GLIAC Tournament.