 
 Annual Report |
Paul Royal enters his fifth season as Head Coach of the La Salle Explorers Women's Soccer program. The 1996 graduate of Wisconsin-Milwaukee became the fourth head coach of the program on April 25, 2003. Royal guided La Salle to one of its best seasons in the school's history in 2004. The Explorers went 10-8-2, the second-best winning percentage in program's history (2000 - 12-6), and qualified for the Atlantic 10 Championship Tournament for only the second time as well (2001). The defense posted a 0.87 goals allowed average, the best such mark ever at La Salle (2000 - 1.23 GAA). Last season, he took the Explorers back to the A-10 Championship Tournament for the third time in school history - the second time in three seasons - with a fourth-place finish in the regular season. La Salle posted a 6-2-1 mark, which included only the second win over Dayton in 13 meetings and handing Charlotte its only regular-season conference loss. Overall, the Explorers posted a 9-10-1 record with five shutouts and five Explorers were honored with postseason accolades from the A-10, while Jenna Guagenti was named All-Region by two separate organizations. Royal carried his success from the fall season into 2007, where he led La Salle to a 5-1-2 spring record with four shutouts, and also headed a number of youth teams. He, along with Penn's Darren Ambrose and Saint Joseph's Jess Reynolds, led the U-17 Eastern PA Olympic Development Program to a national ODP championship. Royal also won his second consecutive Eastern PA state title with the U-17 FC Delco Fury, which then advanced to the regional finals. His Delco team has been ranked in the top 10 in the country for the last two years. In January of 2007, Royal spent a week in England on a recruiting trip also catching several Premier League games. He even had chance to spend some time with Julio Baptista of Arsenal and the Brazilian National Team. Before coming to 20th and Olney, the former Archbishop Ryan High School soccer player (1989-91) spent the previous five seasons at Villanova, where he served as the top assistant, working primarily with the goalkeepers and the team's defensive systems. He was instrumental in the program's recruiting affairs, and coordinated all of the team's schedules. The Wildcats achieved national rankings as high as 14th in 2002, made consecutive appearances in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history and ranked sixth nationally in goals-against average (0.55). Royal spent three seasons (2001-03) working as the goalkeeper's coach for the WUSA's Philadelphia Charge under former U-19 National Team coach Mark Krikorian. He is a member of the Region One ODP staff, and in 2006 helped lead the U-17 Eastern PA ODP team to a regional championship, along with leading the FC Delco Fury to a regional semifinal appearance and their first EPA State Championship. Royal was drafted by the National Professional Soccer League's (NPSL) Milwaukee Wave in 1995 as the first goalkeeper selected, and the eighth choice overall. He played with the Wave for two seasons (1995-96), before moving on to a three-year stay with the South Jersey Barons of the USL's D3 Pro League. He received Second-Team All-D3 Pro League mention in 1998, and led the Barons to a regular-season National Championship in 1999. Royal's most-recent stint in professional soccer came when he helped the Philadelphia KiXX to the 2000-01 NPSL National Championship Game. The four-year starting goalkeeper at Wisconsin-Milwaukee was a two-time First-Team All-Midwestern Collegiate Conference choice. He served as the Panthers' captain in 1995, and registered a 40-20-5 record between the pipes. Royal, who received his Bachelor of Science degree in criminal justice in 1996 from UWM, currently resides in Cherry Hill, NJ, with his wife, Shelby, and daughter, Payton. |
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