March 6, 2014
ROCHESTER, Mich. - Margaret Saurin will be the second head coach in Oakland women's soccer history, Interim Athletics Director Robby Stewart announced on Wednesday. Saurin comes to Oakland University after spending the last seven seasons as head coach of the IPFW women's soccer program, where she was named The Summit League Coach of the Year in 2012.
"I am honored to have been chosen for this position," said Saurin. "I look forward to working with an outstanding group of student-athletes and I am excited to build on the tradition of success at Oakland University.
"I would like to thank Dr. Robby Stewart and the search committee for offering me the opportunity to continue my coaching career at Oakland," Saurin added.
After not making The Summit League tournament in the first five seasons, Saurin had the Mastodons in postseason play over the last two. IPFW finished with a program-best 5-2-1 mark in Summit League play in 2012 and appeared in the league championship game for the first time in school history. IPFW finished the 2012 campaign with a program-record 10 wins.
The Mastodons won a combined four league matches in their first three seasons in the Summit League, but then amassed 16 victories over the last four seasons under Saurin; IPFW did not post a single losing record in league play during that stretch.
"I am very pleased that Margaret has agreed to be our next head women's soccer coach at Oakland," said Stewart. "She was able to separate herself from an outstanding group of candidates. Her proven leadership skills, passion and experience as a head coach have us very excited to see where she can take a program that has already had a tremendous amount of success."
Prior to her head coaching stint at IPFW, Saurin was an assistant coach at the University of Akron for three seasons where she helped secure a top 25 recruiting class in the Great Lakes Region, including two NSCAA High School All-Americans. She also spent the 2003 season as an assistant coach at Christian Brothers University, her alma mater. Notably, Saurin will be inducted into the Christian Brothers University Athletic Hall of Fame this coming April.
A native of Dublin, Ireland, Saurin was a member of the Irish National Soccer Team for eight years and was named MVP and Dana Cup gold medalist in 1996. As a two-time All-American at Christian Brothers, Saurin was a two-year standout where she tallied 47 goals and 64 assists and aided the squad to back-to-back NCAA Division II title games, including the team's national championship season in 2002. Saurin's 1.36 assists per game average for her career is the best across all three NCAA divisions.
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