Leisha Alcia || back to coaches list

Club GK Coach

After a historic career at Illinois as a goalkeeper, one year with the Illini as a volunteer assistant coach, and a year as the goalkeeper coach at Western Kentucky, Leisha Alcia returns to the Fighting Illini coaching staff as an assistant coach. Alcia will oversee the goalkeepers and will play a major role in recruiting.

Alcia holds nearly every goalkeeping record in Illinois history. Alcia is the leader in season, career and consecutive shutouts, season and career saves, season GAA and season save percentage. She anchored the Illini defense in 2003 and 2004, leading the squad to an Elite Eight berth in 2004. In addition, she was the first Illinois player named a first-team All-American, earning the honor by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America, Soccer Buzz and CSTV following the 2003 season.  After spending a year as a volunteer assistant at Illinois, Alcia moved to WKU as an assistant coach, where she worked primarily with the goalkeepers, recruiting, video analysis and camp coordination. She helped the Lady Toppers to an 11-8 record, 7-4 in the Sun Belt Conference, with seven shutouts.

Prior to the 2006 college season, Alcia was named to the Canadian Women's National Team and earned her first international cap in Canada's 4-2 win over Brazil in the Peace Queen Cup on Nov. 1."Leisha brings a wealth of experience to share with our goalkeepers and will be able to help them acquire the technical, tatical and psychological skills needed to compete at the highest level," Illinois head coach Janet Rayfield said of Alcia. "She has embarked on a great coaching career and we are fortunate that she has chosen to come back to Champaign and continue to build the program she helped to establish."  Leisha holds her NSCAA National Diploma and works with Region II ODP Girls.