A familiar face will be back at Dirks Field this season.
The Fort Lewis College women’s soccer team announced this week that Amanda Raso would join the program as the top assistant coach on Jimmy Hall’s staff.
Raso was on the FLC team from 2010-13 as a goalkeeper and started two seasons. She graduated from the college in 2014 and went to Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas, where former FLC women’s soccer head coach Damian Clarke left the Skyhawks for last season.
After serving as a graduate assistant coach under Clarke, Raso made her return to Durango after one season away.
“I couldn’t be happier to return to Durango and join the coaching staff here at Fort Lewis College,” Raso said in a news release. “It’s an honor to have had the opportunity to once play for this program and now return as a coach.”
Hall, who was promoted from interim head coach to head coach this offseason, said Raso primarily will work with the team’s goalkeepers. As a FLC alum himself, Hall is excited to bring another former Skyhawk onto his coaching staff.
“Amanda is an accomplished coach who is continuing to grow and improve her abilities,” Hall said in the news release. “We are excited to have such a driving personality and hardworking individual added to our program.
“It has been apparent that both our program and community are immediately energized with her return.”
Raso, who also has been involved with the Durango High School and Durango Youth Soccer Association programs in the past, originally is from Aurora and played high school soccer at Smoky Hill.
She is second among FLC goalies with a .744 winning percentage, third with 25 wins and is fifth in shutouts with 11. She also ranks in the top 10 in three other categories.
A season ago, she helped coach the Lonestar Conference Co-Goalkeeper of the Year in Midwestern State’s Courtney Burnette.
FLC will return senior Caitlyn Espinosa and sophomore Kodie Johnson as goalkeepers this season, which will open Sept. 3 at Midwestern State.
The Skyhawks went 6-8-5 overall and 5-5-4 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference last season after Clarke’s sudden departure in late July.
“I am excited to continue my coaching career under Coach Hall as well as return to the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference,” Raso said.
heraldsports@durangoherald.com
