Columbia head women's soccer coach Kevin McCarthy begins his 17th season at the helm of a Lions team that has made its mark as one of the top teams in the Northeast region. McCarthy has led Columbia to unparalleled success and has established his alma mater as a force to be reckoned with in the Ivy League and beyond.

This past season, the Lions saw a senior class comprised of Sophie Reiser, Ashley Mistele, Meggie Ford and Christina Eckhardt graduate with the most Ivy League victories by a senior class in program history. Reiser was named first team All-Ivy League for the third straight season, while Mistele garnered second team accolades and Ford honorable mention honors. Reiser also became the first player in school history to be named to the CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America team and was drafted in the fifth round by the Chicago Red Stars of Women's Professional Soccer.

Off the field, McCarthy has been an integral component in establishing the women's soccer program as one of the premier sport programs at Columbia. In 2008, the women's soccer Lions won the school's first-ever Lions Cup, a competitive event for all Columbia University varsity sports programs that is a means by which student-athletes can compete on behalf of their teams for points in various categories.

The Lions finished second to women's basketball for the award in 2009, but did take home the Paul E. Fernandes Community Service Award, given to the varsity sports program achieving the most significant contributions and notable service to the University and local communities during an academic year.

In 2008, Columbia recorded 11 victories, tying for third-most in program history. The Lions received votes in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America Top 25 poll twice during the year, marking the first time that the women's soccer team had been recognized amongst the nation's best. 

Columbia strung together an eight-match unbeaten streak in the middle portion of its 2008 campaign, which included seven wins and a tie. It marked the second time in three seasons that the squad had accomplished the feat, with the first coming in 2006 as the Lions won seven straight games to close out the regular season in a memorable run to the Ivy League title.

McCarthy also saw his players garner unprecedented individual accolades in 2008, as Sophie Reiser '10CC became the first player in program history to be named an All-American. Reiser was a fourth-team selection by Soccer Buzz magazine, and also became the first player to be named a first team NSCAA Academic All-American. The standout earned the Ivy League Player of the Year award, becoming the second player McCarthy has coached to the honor (Shannon Munoz in 2007).

After winning Ivy League championships as a player and an assistant coach with the Columbia men’s soccer program, Kevin McCarthy brought an Ivy League title to the women’s soccer program in 2006.

Columbia went undefeated through the Ivy League slate in 2006, including a 2-0 win over then 13th-ranked Dartmouth that lifted Columbia into first place, where the Lions stayed. Columbia clinched the title with a thrilling 1-0 win at Harvard on Aubrey Medal’s goal in the 82nd minute, securing the program’s first-ever bid to the NCAA Tournament. For his efforts, McCarthy was named Northeast Region Coach of the Year by the NSCAA in November 2006.

The incredible run toward the Ivy League title was Columbia’s third straight winning season and the culmination of a steady climb toward the Ivy League title that saw the Lions win three league games in 2005 before going undefeated a year later. In 15 seasons, McCarthy’s career record at Columbia stands at 127-105-28.

The 2006 season saw McCarthy’s squad tie a program record with seven straight victories to end the season and tie a school record set in 1998 with 10 defensive shutouts in 18 games.

Record-setting is nothing new for McCarthy, who was a member of the 1983 Columbia soccer team which reached the national championship game. With experience on the field as a player and on the sidelines as an assistant coach for former men’s head coach Dieter Ficken, McCarthy possesses the ability to create and motivate winners. He is an artful combination of strategist and educator, and his players respond positively to his guidance.

During his tenure as a men’s assistant coach from 1988 to 1993, the Lions received four NCAA bids (1989, 1990, 1991 and 1993) and won the 1993 Ivy League championship.

During his playing career, from 1981 to 1984, Columbia captured four of its eight-straight Ivy League titles (1978 to 1985) and was a four-time NCAA Tournament participant. In 1983, he was a vital cog on Columbia’s greatest team. The Lions won their first 18 games before falling in the NCAA Championship final, 1-0, to Indiana in double-overtime. He earned first team All-Ivy League honors his senior year.

McCarthy boasts impressive experience in the athletic and academic development of young people. He taught English at the Horace Mann School and Archbishop Molloy High School and was a humanities professor at Ramapo College. He was the boys’ head soccer coach at Horace Mann, leading that team to the prep Ivy League championship. In addition, he has worked at a variety of clinics, serving as director of the Soccer Dynamics Girl’s Soccer Camp and also coaching in the Long Island Junior Soccer League and the Manhattan, Brooklyn and Bronx region’s World Youth Soccer Clinics.

He has worked with U.S. National Olympic team member Mia Hamm for City Soccer. McCarthy was the technical director for the program, which was designed to introduce inner-city girls to soccer. In 1996, he started the New York City Soccer Academy to further those efforts. Along with the NYC Soccer Academy, McCarthy also serves on the board of the Harlem Soccer Foundation and the West Side Soccer League.

A noted public speaker, the Columbia mentor was invited to talk to a Fordham M.B.A. class on peak performance and the core values of his Lion women’s soccer program this past summer. McCarthy was invited by the advertising agency Ogilvy and Mather to team with Scott Ventrella, the principal of the management consulting firm Positive Dynamics to present ideas about “Coaching for Performance” in the summer of 2007.

McCarthy earned his B.A. in history from Columbia in 1985, and received his master’s in American studies, also from Columbia, in 1990. He resides in Manhattan with his wife, Angela Tessinari, a Barnard graduate and Emmy-winning director of the ABC daytime drama, “All My Children”, and their sons, Luke (10) and Wyatt (7).