Nicole Gervais
	Head Coach ngervais@whittier.edu (562) 907-4976

The 2009 season will mark the third year for Nicole Gervais as the head coach of the Whittier College women's soccer team. She began prior to the start of the 2007 season and inherited a team that was just two years removed from a berth in the NCAA Division III Championships but had a record of 4-33-2 since the 2004 campaign.

In Gervais' first season at the helm of the WC women's soccer program she went winless but nearly pulled off an upset of Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference foe La Verne. It was the Poets' closest match of the season as they fell by a score of 2-1.

Despite the team's 0-18 season Gervais placed freshman Ameshia Hamlet on the All-SCIAC first-team. Hamlet was one of five freshman named to the first-team and the lone Whittier student-athlete to earn conference recognition.

Although Gervais and company didn't earn a victory in her second go-around with squad the steady improvement was noticeable. The Poets lost eight games by three goals or fewer in 2008 which includes a 3-2 loss to Chapman in the third match of the year. The Panthers pulled ahead quickly with three unanswered first-half goals. However, the Poets got their first goal in the 38th minutes and cut the deficit to one goal in the 65th. That proved to be as close as Whittier would get as they held Chapman scoreless in the second half.

The 2008 season made Gervais 2-for-2 in placing at least one student-athlete on the all-conference team. Once again a freshman was honored. This time Gervais saw Anna Plascencia land on the second-team.

Gervais has an overall record of 0-35 but her background speaks for its self. Prior to being named the head coach at Whittier she compiled a record of 137-62-6 in nine seasons as a player and coach at Principia College.

Originally from Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., Gervais graduated from Principia in 2001 with a Bachelor's degree in Sports Management.

Gervais played four seasons with the Panthers where she still holds the career record for points (222), goals (84) and assists (54). As a freshman in 1997 she scored a team-high 22 goals and added 12 assists to give her 56 points for the season. That mark is a Principia freshman record. She was named Newcomer of the Year, Co-Player of the Year and earned first-team All-St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference honors.

During her sophomore campaign in 1998 she was once again named Player of the Year and also earned her second straight all-conference first-team bid. She picked up her third consecutive first-team all-conference selection in 1999.

For her career she was a three-time SLIAC Player of the Year and two-time NSCAA All-Region selection and in February 2007 she was named to the SLIAC Hall of Fame.

Following her playing days she signed on as an assistant coach for the next five seasons. In her third season on staff (2004) she helped guide the Panthers to an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III tournament.

Most recent Gervais earned her NSCAA Advanced National Diploma and in the fall of 2008 she served on the NSCAA Ranking Committee. Gervais received her Master's degree in Sports Management with a concentration in Coaching from the United States Sports Academy in 2005.

Gervais also coached and assisted at Bishop Montgomery High School, served as a trainer for the U-19 Palos Verdes Breakers and was the head coach of the girl's junior high school team in the Palos Verdes School District.

She currently resides in Hermosa Beach, Calif.