All good things must come to an end, but truly great runs seem like they’ll go on forever.
William Smith Head Soccer Coach Aliceann Wilber P’13, L.H.D. ’22 has announced the 2024 season was her final one at the helm of the program she built from the ground up. It was her 44th season (45th year) leading the Herons.
Since coaching the Herons’ first varsity contest in 1980, Wilber has led William Smith to 657 wins—more than any active coach in NCAA women’s soccer. She has guided the Herons to the NCAA Division III women’s soccer tournament a record 34 times, including an active streak of 17 consecutive bids. The Herons have advanced to the national semifinals 12 times and played in the national championship match six times, capturing the 1988 and 2013 national championships.
Since the Liberty League was founded in 1995, William Smith has captured 19 conference titles, including 15 of the past 17. Wilber’s 187 career wins in Liberty League play are more than all but one of the league’s other head coaches have for their careers—both league and non-league.
“I will cherish the vastness of the connections and friendships made and kept throughout my career at William Smith,” Wilber says. “The range is extensive—from administrators and staff, assistant coaches, coaching colleagues to all of our student-athletes. Throughout my years at HWS I have acquired a face full of lines, a head full of memories and a heart full of love. Any of myself that I have given, has been given back to me tenfold.”
Wilber’s impressive list of accolades includes five United Soccer Coaches National Coach of the Year Awards, 14 Regional Coaching Staff of the Year Awards and 15 Liberty League Coaching Staff of the Year Awards. Her desire to share credit and uplift others led her to push the Liberty League and United Soccer Coaches to change their awards from Coach of the Year to Coaching Staff of the Year.
Wilber was inducted into the Heron Hall of Honor in 2002, the West Valley Central School Hall of Fame in 2014, the United Soccer Coaches Hall of Fame in 2019 and the SUNY Brockport Hall of Fame in 2020.
“The only head coach in the history of the program, Aliceann has made Heron Soccer synonymous with excellence,” HWS President Mark D. Gearan says. “Her mentorship of generations of William Smith women has been both remarkable and resolute. She has an innate ability to build deep and lasting connections with her players, inspiring them to seek excellence in themselves and others. Her influence on women’s soccer can’t be overstated. And her impact on HWS and the generations of graduates who have called her coach cannot be measured. I very much prize her good counsel, her humor and integrity, and most of all her friendship. Aliceann has created a rock solid program and I look forward to joining her in the bleachers as we cheer on the next era of Herons soccer.”
Wilber has overseen the development of 58 United Soccer Coaches All-Americans, including a pair of National Players of the Year. She could field 12 full starting lineups with six subs with her 138 United Soccer Coaches All-Region selections.
At the conference level, Wilber’s student-athletes have garnered 198 All-Liberty League nods, including 110 first team awards. Seventeen of her players have been voted the Liberty League Player of the Year, 11 more earned the Liberty League Defensive Player of the Year Award and eight have been elected the league’s rookie of the year.
“Aliceann is William Smith Soccer,” says Associate Vice President and Director of Athletics and Recreation Brian Miller. “She has been here from the beginning, building one of the most successful Division III women’s soccer programs in the history of the sport. As great a soccer coach and mentor as she has been to hundreds of William Smith women over the years, she is an even better person. She truly cares about all her players and makes the effort to remain in their lives long after they hang up their green and white uniforms. I will personally miss her steadfast opinions and the advice she offers as the pulse of all things William Smith. Winn-Seeley will not be the same without her.”
In the classroom, Wilber’s Herons have collected 20 United Soccer Coaches Scholar All-American awards, including two that were chosen the Scholar Player of the Year. Her student-athletes also account for 19 of HWS’ 71 Academic All-Americans as chosen by College Sports Communicators. Both programs are highly selective, requiring elite academic and athletic achievement just to be considered for selection.
Wilber’s impact on her players has inspired many of them to go into coaching as a profession or as a community service. In addition to countless youth and scholastic coaches, she mentored the current head coaches at Gustavus Adolphus College (Laura Burnett-Kurie ’08), Ithaca College (Mindy Quigg ’89), Macalester College (Madeline Buckley ’15), Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Bre Nasypany-Cicero ’11), Stevenson University (Tati Korba ’00) and SUNY Plattsburgh (Whitney Frary ’13).
A perennial national championship contender today, Wilber and William Smith took some lumps in their early years. In 1980, the Herons lost their first match 9-0 to Wells, which marked the start of a four-match skid. William Smith snapped the slide with its first win, dominating Hamilton 7-1. Two more victories followed, 2-1 over Houghton and 1-0 at Cazenovia. The team ended that first season 4-6-0.
In the program’s fifth season, 1984, William Smith climbed over .500 for the first time, posting an 8-6-1 record. The Herons haven’t suffered a losing season since.
By 1987, William Smith earned its first NCAA tournament bid and made an impressive debut. Wilber took her team to Oneonta to face Hartwick in the first round, advancing on penalty kicks 4-2. The following day, the Herons shut out Cortland 2-0 in the quarterfinals. William Smith engineered a 1-0 double overtime triumph against St. Thomas to set up a title tilt at Rochester. The Herons’ Cinderella run ended in the championship, but the 1-0 setback to the Yellowjackets lit a fire that fueled a championship run the following season.
The 1988 Herons carried a perfect record into late October, winning 14 straight games to start the campaign. After a late season stumble that saw them play a scoreless draw at St. Lawrence and drop a 1-0 decision at Cortland, William Smith entered the NCAA tournament on a mission. The Herons dispatched Alfred 6-0 in the first round. Wilber’s tactical skills and player management were on full display in the quarterfinals and semifinals, both of which went to penalties. William Smith outdueled Hartwick 3-2 and then slipped past Methodist 7-6 to return to the title match. The drama didn’t wane in the finale as the match was scoreless through regulation and two overtime periods. Finally, in the 126th minute, Ann Haggerty ’93 beat the UC-San Diego goalie with a shot from 14 yards out to give the Herons the title on their home field.
Twenty-five years later, Wilber added a second national championship trophy with one of the most dominant teams in her tenure. Her charges rattled off 23 consecutive victories, the final 16 by shutout, to return to the pinnacle. The winning streak included matches against No. 1 Messiah, No. 25 Rochester, No. 5 Ithaca, No. 22 St. Lawrence, No. 16 Skidmore, No. 24 RIT (in both the regular season final and the Liberty League Championship game), No. 15 TCNJ, No. 7 Ithaca and No. 2 Trinity (Texas).
Wilber’s final season may have been one of her finest coaching efforts. Early season struggles left the team with a 6-3-3 record in mid-October and had outsiders wondering what was wrong with William Smith. But through the strength of the culture she built and the commitment of everyone within the program, the Herons rattled off a 12-match unbeaten streak that propelled the team to the national championship match and included NCAA tournament wins over No. 7 Tufts, No. 9 Washington & Lee and No. 23 Emory.
A long-time member of United Soccer Coaches, Wilber serves as the chair of the Division III Women’s All-America Committee. She previously served on the organization’s board of directors and as the Division III Northwest All-Region Chair. United Soccer Coaches presented Wilber with the Bill Jeffrey Award in 2002 and the Women’s Soccer Award for Excellence in 2020.
Thanks to the generosity of HWS Trustee Calvin R. “Chip” Carver Jr. ’81 and his wife, Anne DeLaney, the new William Smith Soccer Team Room was named in honor of Wilber in 2023.
Miller will conduct a nationwide search for the next head coach of William Smith soccer.
HWS is planning an event to recognize Wilber’s exceptional career on April 26, 2025, during William Smith soccer’s annual alumnae weekend.
