University of Charleston Athletics

Sarah Leiby enters her second season as the head coach of the Golden Eagles Women’s Soccer program. During her first season with the program, the team were regular season MEC champions, runner’s up in the conference tournament, and advanced to the NCAA tournament. The team had the 4th best scoring offense in the country and had 3 players rank in the Top 20 for individual statistics categories. Six players received All-Conference Honors, with Juliette Lucas and Lina Jaime both receiving All-Region and All-American Honors. Leiby was also named by her peers as the 2024 MEC Women’s Soccer Coach of the Year.

She came to UC after spending one season as the Assistant Coach and Recruiting Coordinator at the College of Charleston. Prior to CofC, Leiby served in the same role at Dartmouth College from 2021 to 2023. She helped several players receive post-season accolades and was tasked with identifying and recruiting the best and brightest to join Big Green Women’s Soccer. Leiby aided in the development of all players during their careers through film sessions and creating periodized season plans.

Before her time at Dartmouth, Leiby served as the Associate Head Coach at Saint Leo University from 2019 to 2021. She was instrumental in improving nearly every aspect of Saint Leo’s program, from managing equipment, budgets, travel accommodations and compliance to helping implement new academic guidelines that saw the team’s grade point average jump nearly half a point to 3.61 during her tenure.

It was also in 2019 that Leiby was tabbed as one of the nation’s top 30 coaches under 30 years old by United Soccer Coaches. She also graduated from the NCAA WeCOACH Women Coaches Academy in 2020 and the NCAA Academy 2.0 in 2025.

Prior to her time in the Sunshine State, Leiby was an assistant at Montana State in Billings from 2017-19, helping develop three all-league players and mentoring Amanda Hemmen, who would become the program’s first two-time First Team Academic All-American.

Her first full-time foray into coaching came in 2016 when she joined the staff at Black Hills State in South Dakota for the inaugural season in program history.

Additionally, Leiby has coaching experience with several club soccer organizations, state Olympic Development Programs, and is on the East Region Girls ODP staff.

Leiby is a 2014 graduate of the University of Vermont where she received her bachelor's in environmental science and earned her masters degree in sport coaching from West Virginia University in 2024. She holds a United States Soccer Federation National B License and United Soccer Coaches Goalkeeping 2 & 3 Diplomas. She is also involved with USSF as a C License educator and the SheChampions Mentor Program.

She resides in Charleston with her fiancé, Jake, and their dog Velvet.