After three admirable seasons, the beloved Andy Nelson will be stepping down from his post as head of the women’s soccer team. The British native is moving to Chile to get married and will leave behind a truly great legacy of hard work and success.

Nelson will not leave Oberlin empty-handed, as the very talented and intelligent assistant Kristen Hayden will be taking the reins. She will be looking to continue the work Coach Nelson began and take the team to a higher level.

Hayden was announced as the head varsity coach on May 5. The young coach is looking forward to becoming a part of the Oberlin head coaching community. Though she is young, Coach Hayden brings experience and new life to the building program.

Through playing at Muskingum College and coaching at Kent State, Hayden gained valuable experience and was snatched up by Nelson to help Oberlin’s ever improving program. At Kent, Hayden assisted the team to the Mid-American Conference championship as well as the MAC tournament championship game. She also has extensive experience coaching youth soccer throughout the state of Ohio.

When Nelson announced in February that he was leaving, Hayden was not given any special treatment and had to go through the same process as all the other candidates. After submitting all her paperwork and doing all the interviews, Hayden was finally chosen from a highly competitive pool of coaches. Her outlook for the team is very optimistic, and she looks to keep pushing each woman to improve every day.

When asked why she picked Oberlin College as the place she would like to accept her first head coaching responsibilities, Hayden cited the quality of people and the work ethic of the players as primary reasons. Her goals for the program include becoming one of the top teams in the North Coast Athletic Conference, and are driven by her admiration for the team’s work rate.

“The hard work mentality attracts recruits, recruits who have the same drive,” said Hayden. She also discussed how the attitude will help her and the program grow and reach that she has set. The new coach feels she can relate well to players and has the ability to understand and work out problems each individual has. Hayden hopes these attributes will guide her to do the best job she can for the Yeowomen.

The newly appointed head coach does not only work in the athletic department but is also a liaison for residential education. These experiences allow Hayden to meet all kinds of people in the OC community and she looks forward to this aspect of her new position. The addition of Coach Hayden is yet another step in the direction of improving the women’s soccer program as well as the overall athletic department at Oberlin College.