This bio is now a part of a historical archive, the individual was on the staff from 2002-2017 and is no longer employed by Wilkes University.
John Sumoski enters his 16th year as the head coach of the women's soccer program at Wilkes University in the fall of 2017. The program's all-time winningest coach, he's led the Lady Colonels to a 144-124-29 (.534) record in his fifteen seasons, including thirteen trips to the MAC Freedom tournament.
Sumoski has ten seasons of nine-plus wins, including five years of at least 12. In a five-year stretch from 2004-2008, Wilkes racked up 59 victories, including a Freedom Conference title and the program's first NCAA tournament appearance in 2005.
In his fourteen seasons at Wilkes, he's coached ten Mid-Atlantic All-Region players; 59 All-Freedom Conference players; four conference rookies of the year; and one Freedom Conference player of the year - Lyndsay Ellis in 2010. Ellis also earned first team all-conference and third team all-region as a junior that season.
In 2013, he led Wilkes to a 9-7-4 mark and the No. 2 seed in the Freedom Conference Tournament for a second consecutive year. Five Lady Colonels were named to the All-Freedom Conference squads as well as Rookie of the Year Samantha Hockley.
In 2012, Sumoski led the Lady Colonels to a 12-5-5 and a spot in the Freedom Conference Tournament as the No. 2 seed. After falling in the Freedom semifinals in a shootout, Wilkes earned a berth in the ECAC South Tournament reaching the finals of the event. For his efforts, Sumoski was named Freedom Conference Coach of the Year for the third time in his career. He reached the 100-win milestone for his career in a 2-1 win at Moravian on September 1, 2012.
In 2011 he led Wilkes to an 8-6-3 record, including a 4-1-2 mark in league play earning the third seed in the Freedom Conference Tournament. Both Katy Fissel and Ellis were named Mid-Atlantic All Region for the second time in their careers.
In 2009 he led the Colonels to a 7-9-3 record, starting the year off with back-to-back wins. His Wilkes team finished regular season conference play with a 3-2-2 mark, where it faced Manhattanville in the first round of the Freedom Conference Tournament.
His 2009 team saw three players make the All-Freedom Conference squad with Katy Fissel and Lyndsay Ellis being named to the first team, while Julissa Reed was named to the second team. Along with their all-conference accolades, Fissel and Ellis were named to the Mid-Atlantic All Region team.
In 2008, Sumoski led the Lady Colonels to a 10-10-1 record, including a 5-3 Freedom Conference mark. Wilkes earned a bid to the Freedom Conference tournament that season, making it to the semi-finals after winning its last four games of the regular season.
In the 2006 and 2007 campaigns, his teams reached the Freedom Conference semi-finals each season, including an ECAC Tournament bid in 2006.
His best year came in 2005 when he guided Wilkes to their first Freedom Conference championship and an automatic berth into the NCAA Division III Championship field. Finishing 15-4-1, he led the Lady Colonels to its first ever national ranking, reaching as high as 16th in all of Division III and was ranked as high as third in the region.
In 2002, Sumoski guided Wilkes to the Freedom Conference title match and was named the conference's Coach of the Year. In 2004 he was named the Freedom Conference's Co-Coach of the Year after leading the Lady Colonels to a 12-6-1 mark.
Off the field, the Lady Colonels have also been successful in the classroom under Sumoski, as 48 student-athletes have been named to the Freedom Conference's academic honor roll, with three more being named Academic All-American. In addition, the program has eight NSCAA team academic honors to its credit under Sumoski.
Sumoski is a former standout player at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown, an NCAA Division II member. During his playing days from 1987 to 1990 at Pitt.-Johnstown, Sumoski set the record for most goals in a season (18), which was the tenth highest in Division II, and finished with 37 career goals. For his efforts he was named All-Conference three times and a Regional All-American twice.
Sumoski, who has an Advanced National Diploma in coaching from the National Soccer Coaches Association of America, while also holding an "A" License from the United States Soccer Federation, most recently served as a graduate assistant coach with the women's program at Division I Central Michigan University. During his two seasons at Central Michigan Sumoski worked with both goalkeeper and field player training, while also developing and monitoring the team's off-season strength and conditioning program. He also assisted in recruiting both nationally and internationally, and organized and monitored NCAA compliance documentation.
Prior to his stint at Central Michigan he served as the head coach at NAIA Carlow College from 1998 to 2000. Sumoski was responsible for starting the program at Carlow, where he remained as the head coach for two seasons. He also spent two seasons at Carnegie Mellon University (1995 and 1997), both as an assistant coach and as the squad's interim head coach in the Spring of 1998.
From 1997 to 1999, Sumoski was the staff head coach for the Pennsylvania West Girls Olympic Development program. His responsibilities included identifying and training state level players on a weekly basis, assisting with regional coaching during identification camps, and also doing player assessments. From 2005 to 2006 Sumoski was a staff coach for the Olympic Development Program U17 girls squad that claimed a national championship.
Sumoski began his coaching career as the head girl's coach at Baldwin High School in Pittsburgh from 1993 to 1996. At the time, he was also the head coach for the '78 girls at Penns Forest Futbol Club who won 3 PA West State Championships and the 83 boys who won 9 consecutive state championships from u12 to u20. He also served as the State Director of Coerver-Coaching Michigan. Coerver Coaching is a well-known world wide skills teaching program.
