2015 Nebraska Soccer
11 ncaa tournament appearances
290 all-time victories
10 conference championships
John walker
head coach
22nd season l 290-133-27 (.674) career record l queen’s university (1987)
Honors and Awards
290-133-27 (.674) Career and Nebraska Record
Coached 12 players to 18 NSCAA All-America Honors
Coached players to 47 first-team all-conference awards
19th in victories among active coaches
Current Canadian National Team Staff Coach
NSCAA National Coach of the Year (1996)
NSCAA Regional Coach of the Year (1996, 2013)
Conference Coach of the Year (1996, 1999, 2013)
Eight Big 12 Championships l Two Big Ten Championships
30
John’s Journey
Coach John Walker came to Lincoln in April 1994 and
21 seasons later, he has built a tradition-rich program
at Nebraska that includes 11 NCAA Tournament
appearances, two trips to the Elite Eight, six trips to the
Sweet 16 and 10 conference championships, including
a pair of Big Ten titles in 2013.
NU finished the 2013 campaign with its highest
win total since 2000 with a 19-4-1 record. The
Huskers were led by seniors Jordan Jackson, Ari
Romero, Emma Stevens, Kylie Greischar, Stacy
Bartels and Maritza Hayes along with freshman
sensation Jaycie Johnson. Nebraska claimed both the
Big Ten Conference regular-season and tournament
titles. The Huskers snapped Penn State’s 15-year
reign atop the Big Ten to win the regular-season
crown and put NU soccer back on the national radar.
The Big Red were relentless in the conference,
going 10-1 with a 5-0 record on the road during Big
Ten play during 2013.
The Huskers advanced to the second round of
the NCAA Tournament, hosting each of the first two
rounds at the Nebraska Soccer Field. Walker’s squad
ended the year No. 4 in the RPI ranking and No. 13
in the NSCAA poll.
In 1994, Nebraska became the first Big Eight
school to add women’s soccer as a varsity sport, and
Walker was optimistic about the future of soccer in
the Cornhusker state because of the University’s
commitment to building a winning program. That
commitment has remained strong throughout the
program’s history, and in 2005 the Huskers moved
into impressive facilities on the Nebraska campus.
In August 2015, the Huskers moved into the new
Barbara Hibner Soccer Stadium.
Walker’s goal when he started at NU was to have
the Huskers in their first NCAA Tournament by the
1998 season. Walker not only achieved that goal,
he shattered his own timeline as NU reached the
postseason in 1996, before earning seven straight
top-15 national finishes.
In 21 years at the helm for the Huskers, Walker has
produced the 24th-best career winning percentage
among active NCAA Division I women’s soccer
coaches at .674 (290-133-27). Walker is the only head
coach to produce more than 100 wins in fewer than
eight seasons and notched his 200th career victory
in the 2005 NCAA Tournament.
Under Walker, the Huskers have made eight
NCAA Sweet 16 appearances, including two trips
to the Elite Eight and won three Big 12 regularseason crowns and five Big 12 Tournament titles.
NU swept both Big 12 Conference titles in 1996,
1999 and 2000.
In 1999, Nebraska enjoyed its best season in the
program’s 21-year history, running to a 22-1-2 final
record, a Big 12 regular-season title and a Big 12
Tournament crown. The Huskers missed their first
trip to the NCAA Women’s College Cup (semifinals) by
the narrowest of margins, as Notre Dame advanced
on sudden death penalty kicks, 4-3, after one of the
greatest matches in NCAA Tournament history.
Walker and the Huskers also made Nebraska
women’s soccer one of the hottest tickets in the
nation. In 1999, the Huskers set a school singleseason record and ranked among the top five
teams in the nation, averaging 1,529 fans per game,
including a then school-record attendance of 3,702
fans in the NCAA quarterfinals against Notre Dame.
In 2002, NU rewrote the single-game attendance
record, when 4,830 fans attended the Nebraska
vs. North Carolina contest to open the season. In
2004, more than 10,000 fans saw the Huskers play
in their final season at the Abbott Sports Complex,
including 3,620 in the home opener against the Tar
Heels. In 2005, Walker and the Huskers moved on
campus for the first time in school histo