March 8, 2012
SAN DIEGO - Ryan Carruth and Oliver Petersen have each been named to the San Diego State men's soccer coaching staff, head coach Lev Kirshner recently announced.
Carruth comes to Montezuma Road with five years of collegiate coaching experience and four years as a head coach at the club level. Most recently, Carruth was the college guidance director and staff coach with the esteemed Albion Soccer Club, as well as the director of the Peninsula Soccer League.
As the college guidance director with the Albion SC, Carruth worked with all U-15, U-16, U-17 and U-18 players and families by educating them about the landscape of collegiate soccer, including the recruitment process, NCAA rules and regulations and all the other aspects necessary to successfully make a transition from youth to college soccer.
Additionally, Carruth was the head coach of the Albion SC Under-18 boys' team that advanced to the Cal South National Cup quarterfinals, and also was the U-11, U-12 and U-13 boy's head coach and the co-head coach of the U-18 girls' team.
Carruth was the first assistant at United States Merchant Marine Academy from 2007-09. While with USMMA, Carruth recruited classes that led the team to back-to-back NCAA tournament appearances in 2009-10, including a trip to the Division III quarterfinals in 2010. Carruth redesigned the strength and conditioning program, was responsible for training goalkeepers, video game breakdown and scouting opponents.
Carruth coached at his alma mater and D-III national power St. Lawrence University from 2004-05 and 2006-07 out of college. Carruth helped SLU to the NCAA third round in 2004 (16-2-3) and the second round in 2006 (12-6-2). Carruth's duties with the Saints, who won the Liberty League both of his two years as an assistant coach (2004 and 2006), included all administrative and recruiting functions, training the goalkeepers with the attacking players and overseeing the strength and conditioning program.
Carruth starred at St. Lawrence from 1997-2001, leading the 1999 national championship and undefeated (22-0-0) team in scoring. A 1999 NSCAA/Adidas All-American, Carruth is seventh on the school's all-time scoring list with 67 points on 29 goals and nine assists. Carruth played professionally for the Rochester Rhinos of the USL A-League for seven weeks after graduation before a knee injury ended his career.
Petersen, meanwhile, comes to San Diego State after spending time as an assistant general manager with the Buffalo Flash (now Western New York Flash) of the world's top professional soccer franchise. With the Flash, Petersen assisted in all aspects of the franchise, including negotiating matches to be televised by Time Warner Cable (TWC) Sports at no charge, color commentating for TWC Sports, attracting sponsorship, investment, promotional brochures, game day operations and website design, among other duties.
Petersen also has experience coaching in three continents. Specializing in tactical analysis, player 1-on-1 assessments and team building/leading, Petersen has coached in the United States, England and Singapore at various levels.
As a soccer player, Petersen starred for national D-I power Rutgers from 2002-06 under legendary head coach Bob Reasso, the same school that Aztec head coach Lev Kirshner played for. A motivator, leader and teammate, Petersen earned letters in 2002, 2005 and 2006 with the Scarlet Knights.
Petersen, who graduated from Rutgers in 2006 with a degree in journalism and media studies, also has experience working with ABC Sports (researcher), BBL (business operations strategy advisor), ESPN Star Sports (editor), ESPN (production assistant), Goal.com (editorialist/columnist), Rutgers athletic communications office (writer), The Daily Telegraph (writer) and Under Armour (sales activist/copywriter).
Carruth and Petersen replace Sami B. Nedjar and Oscar Rodriguez on the Aztec coaching staff. Paul Holohan, who had spent the last two seasons as a volunteer assistant coach, has been promoted to the director of operations.