The only soccer coach William Smith has ever known, Aliceann Wilber built the Herons from the ground up into one of the most successful and widely respected programs in the nation. Along the way, she has solidified her place among the legendary names of collegiate soccer coaches.

Last season, William Smith earned its 19th consecutive postseason appearance, reaching the NCAA Tournament and posting a 15-2-1 overall record. The legendary coach registered her 22nd straight winning season and ninth consecutive with at least 13 victories, and Wilber and her staff were named the Liberty League Coaching Staff of the Year.

Wilber led the 2003 Herons to the ECAC Northeast Championship with an impressive 15-5-2 mark.

In 2002, Wilber took William Smith to a record 16th consecutive NCAA Division III Tournament, where a young Heron squad surprised many with a run to the national semifinals. William Smith posted 17 victories (one shy of the school record), including Wilber’s 300th career win. The thrilling 1-0 decision in overtime on Nov. 2, at home against Cortland, made Wilber the first woman in collegiate soccer history to reach that lofty milestone.

Including the 1988 national championship, Wilber's career record with the Herons stands at 345-106-36 (.745).

In 2003, Wilber received the NSCAA’s prestigious Bill Jeffrey Award for her outstanding achievement and longtime dedication to college soccer. She is the first woman to win the award. Wilber earned unprecedented back-to-back Division III Women’s Soccer Coach of the Year Awards in 1987 and 1988. After winning the same honor in 1991, she remains one of eight collegiate coaches (and the only woman) to win the award three times at any level. Wilber was honored again in 1993, 1995, and 1999 as the NSCAA Regional Coach of the Year. She also won four consecutive NYSWCAA Coach of the Year Awards between 1999 and 2002.

An exceptional mentor, Wilber has coached more Division III first-team All-Americans (15) than any other Division III women’s coach. In fact, William Smith is one of only 11 Division III schools to have two players named first-team All-Americans in the same season. Just three schools have accomplished the feat more than once, while only the Herons have had two first-team All-Americans in three different seasons (1988, 1991, 2001). In 2002, goalie Leah Cornwell ’03 became the first Heron to be named NSCAA Player of the Year.

Since the NCAA instituted regional tournament play in 1993, William Smith has won six Northeast Region Championships (1993, ’95, ’97, 2000, ’01, ’02), and advanced to the championship round in 1987, ’88, ’93, ’95, ’97, and 2002.

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