St. Mary’s has announced its new girls soccer coach in Patrick Curran. He replaces Jim Foley, who stepped down in May after 25 years on the sideline. 

Curran, who came to the United States from Ireland 27 years ago, coaches club soccer and has experience playing semi-professionally, but he’s looking forward to taking on high school soccer. 

“It’s a new challenge for me because I never coached in the high school environment. I have been coaching club soccer for a number of years. It’s more I need to familiarize myself with the high school environment than anything else,” Curran said. “I know I’ve got some talented kids in the program, so I’m looking forward to working with them come August.” 

Luckily for Curran, he’s not going into the season fully blind.

“I’m familiar with some of the players because some are on my club roster,” Curran said. “I didn’t have time to focus too much on the high school soccer scene, but now that I’m hired, I’m starting to familiarize myself with it.” 

Curran comes with a key assistant in Sam Charest, who has experience coaching in the area.

“I have a really good assistant coach in Sam Charest. Having Sam as part of my coaching staff was very important,” he said. “She’s familiar with a lot of the girls on the roster since she was there in a part-time position last year. She was also the head coach of Beverly High for a number of years. She’s a very good coach.” 

When asked to describe his coaching style, Curran said some have described him as “passionate, energetic, and intense.” 

“Most people would say I’m really passionate and I bring a lot of energy. Any time I have new kids who want to join our club environment, I always have the families come and observe how I coach my practices,” he said. “A lot of the time, the feedback is that there is a lot of energy and I’m really passionate about the game. I’m intense, but I know how to dial it back.” 

On-field success is one goal, but another is to help his players off the field, too.

“I have a reputation for being good at developing kids – not just technically as soccer players, but as all-around individuals,” Curran said. “I’m going to bring a new, fresh energy. Clean slate, and my plan is to make the program successful.” 

For St. Mary’s, which has had at least one team win a state championship across the last 17 years, Curran knows about the success of the athletics program.

“I know, in general, that St. Mary’s is a great school with some fabulous athletes, not just in soccer, but in all sports,” he said. “It has a great track record, which is something that attracted me to applying for the position.” 

Curran met with the team on Tuesday to introduce himself and to explain his principles of coaching. 

“We met with the team for the first time on Tuesday, which gave us the opportunity to introduce ourselves to the girls,” he said. “I haven’t had time to fully think it through (a preseason program). I just told the girls to show up and be in condition and expect to work hard.” 

Although Curran hasn’t coached a high school game before, he looks forward to “seeing how I can develop the program in general.”

“To me, it’s not all about winning games. It’s about the whole program. I’m hopeful that we will have success,” Curran said. “I want to have a family approach where people are on board and working together… I want the team to be as committed as I am to, ultimately, one day win a championship.”