Bio

The 2022 season, Emily Scheese’s sixth as Cal Maritime’s head women’s soccer coach, was one that saw the program continue its growth and development in the classroom and on the soccer field. In addition to Maddy Dack and Kate Dabrow earning All-Cal Pac Second Team and Honorable Mention, the Keelhaulers earned NAIA Daktronics All-Scholar, United Soccer Coaches Team Scholar and Team Ethics and Sportsmanship honors.

In addition to her USSF C Coaching License, she received a coveted invitation from the NAIA to attend its Rise Leadership Event, a group that focuses its efforts on creating and strengthening diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives for implementation by its membership, last spring. Scheese also took full advantage of a leadership development opportunity from the NCAA, designed to strengthen coaches’ leadership skills for respective programs, as a member of the Women’s Coaches Academy’s 51st cohort.

During the Keelhaulers’ offseason, Scheese serves as assistant coach to the Women’s Premier Soccer League’s Napa Valley 1839, focusing her efforts on skill development for local Division I, II, III, NAIA and youth athletes.

In 2017, Scheese arrived to Cal Maritime following a successful seven-year tenure at UC Santa Cruz as an assistant coach for two seasons and head coach for another five.  

Under her tutelage, UCSC won the Great South Athletic Conference in 2015 and advanced to the NCAA Division III National Championship Tournament six times; this success is why she earned Division III Associate of Independents Coach of the Year accolades in 2013, 2014 and 2016.

Scheese’s teams were just as successful in the classroom since UC Santa Cruz earned the National Soccer Coaches Association of America’s Team Scholar Award with a cumulative GPA of 3.35 — the highest within the UC system from 2012-16.

Through Scheese’s leadership and coaching acumen, UCSC’s student-athletes reached their full academic and athletic potential: elite accolades earned by her student-athletes included Association of D-III Independents Defensive Player of the Year in 2013, 2014, and 2016, a GSAC Tournament MVP and four All-Tournament Team selections in 2015. Two NSCAA D-III All-West Region Team, 10 NSCAA D-III Scholar All-West Region Team and six Great South Athletic Conference All-Scholar Team selections flourished under her leadership.

Scheese served as Nike Soccer’s US Sports Camps’ co-director from 2012-17 and played a key role with Aptos Soccer Club's community outreach programs and initiatives during her tenure with the south Santa Cruz County organization, working with teams ranging from U9-U14 during community skills clinics she organized and executed.

While at UC Santa Cruz, she earned a Ph.D. in literature in 2012 and taught several postcolonial literature, women's Caribbean literature, rhetoric and composition courses for its writing department.

In addition to her club and commitments at UC Santa Cruz and Cal Maritime, Scheese also spent additional time developing youth soccer in San Jose by working with Global Premier Soccer CA’s 03 regional team and Almaden FC’s NPL teams for six years, from 2017-22.

Hailing from Torrance, California, Scheese attended Bishop Montgomery High School and led the girls' soccer team to a CIF championship in 1994. Two years later, she earned Most Valuable Defensive Player and All-Del Rey League First Team honors as a senior.

Scheese continued her athletic and academic career at UC San Diego; in addition to earning a degree in literature and minoring in critical gender studies, she received a departmental award for the best senior honors thesis in 2000. On the field, she led the Tritons to three NCAA Division III national titles and is a key reason why they posted a combined record of 72-7-3 throughout her college career.

Since she arrived to Cal Maritime in 2017, Scheese has served as the University’s athletics faculty liaison.