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Vassar College

Department of Athletics & Physical Education
 124 Raymond Avenue, Box 750 Poughkeepsie, NY 12604
Division 3 New York Northeast
Private Small National competitor
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Coaches

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Keith Simons

Simons was named the 13th head coach of the Vassar women's soccer program in June of 2021. The former Associate Head Coach at Wesleyan University, Simons came to Vassar following a two-year stint with the Cardinals.


In his first season at the helm of the Brewers, Simons guided Vassar to a 9-7-1 overall mark, going 4-4-1 in Liberty League play. The Brewers advanced to the Liberty League Tournament for the sixth straight season, shouldering a tough overtime loss to Union in the First Round. Vassar opened the season with victories over NYU and Montclair State. The Brewers opened Liberty League action with a 1-1-1 clip against RIT, Bard and Union, before going on to post several critical league wins - including a North Country sweep of Clarkson and St. Lawrence.


Vassar, which finished fourth in the Liberty League in points (28g-20a-76pts), saw four named to the All-Liberty League Teams at season's end, including Second Team honors for senior Skylar Herrera-Ross and junior Jessica Young. Additional honors came for Young, who was named to the United Soccer Coaches All-Region Third Team, while 20 Brewers were tabbed to the Liberty League All-Academic Team.


Simons, who joined the Cardinals' staff in 2019, helped lead Wesleyan to one of the program's best seasons in recent memory as the squad achieved its best regular-season performance since 2011 with a 9-4-2 overall record and a 4-4-2 conference mark. Wesleyan set a new program record for longest unbeaten streak in a season with eight (6-0-2), surpassing the previous record of six that was set by the 1981 and 1993 teams. The Cardinals also won their third Little Three title and first since 1982. During that eight-game unbeaten streak, Wesleyan defeated the defending national champion and No. 1 ranked Williams, 2-1, at home and earned a national ranking, vaulting as high as No. 21 in the list.


As noted, Simons served as a member of Wesleyan's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Committee where he was an accountability partner for a number of Cardinals' athletic teams. He assisted squads in planning, preparing and executing DEI training and education. As a member of the committee, he helped implement two DEI training events per team, enabled each team to engage with other squads for DEI conversations, while also preparing teams to participate in a community service event.


Simons arrived at Wesleyan after previously serving as the head men's soccer coach at The Sage Colleges from 2016-18. His first season with the Gators proved to be very successful, as Simons guided the team back to the Skyline Conference Championship game, while coaching two Skyline Conference All-Star players. He followed his first year with a 10-6-2 overall record in 2017, en-route to the Empire 8 Conference Championship game.


Prior to arriving at Sage, Simons was an assistant men's soccer coach at Liberty League-rival Skidmore College for three seasons, where he helped lead the Thoroughbreds to a 32-18-6 overall record. He also guided the team to the Liberty League Championship two times in his three years. During his tenure at Skidmore, the squad was recognized twice with NSCAA Team Academic Awards, while the 2015 team was ranked No. 22 in the nation.


Simons was an assistant coach at Elmira for two seasons (2011 & 2012) before arriving at Skidmore, and also spent time as a volunteer assistant coach prior to that.


A 2010 graduate of Manhattanville College, Simons was co-captain his senior year and received the college's Male Scholar Athlete of the Year award. He was a three-time Middle Athletic Conference All-Academic selection and was NSCAA Scholar All-East Region Honorable Mention in 2009. He earned his master's degree in general management from Elmira in 2013.


Simons currently holds an NSCAA Premier Diploma, NSCAA Goalkeeping Level III Diploma and USSF National D License.

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Shaela Krayer

Shaela Krayer joined the Vassar women's soccer staff as Assistant Coach in August of 2021. She will also serve as an Athletic Facilities Assistant for the department.


Krayer joins the Vassar staff after serving as head coach and Director of Junior Development for Park City Soccer Club in Utah for the past year. During her tenure, she maintained coaching responsibilities for two elite teams, oversaw all development of junior aged teams, while also overseeing the implementation of additional club programs (goalkeeper training, etc.).


Prior to her time at Park City, Krayer was an assistant coach and goalkeeping coach at Stevenson University for two years. With the Mustangs, she assisted in player evaluation, training session, video review and analysis, scouting report reviews and recruitment. During her first season with the program, she helped guide the squads starting goalie to an impressive .824 save percentage. Krayer also served as the Maryland State ODP coach for the U13 boys from 2019 through 2020.


Before her tenure at Stevenson, Krayer was in Maine where she spent two years as the Assistant Coach and Keeper Trainer for Southern Maine Community College. There she helped the team into the conference playoffs both seasons. During the 2017-18 campaign, she coached the team's freshman goalie to second in goals against, while the team placed second overall in the conference standings.


In addition to her work at SMCC, she also joined the Seacoast United team as a Goalkeeper School lead coach and took her '03 girls to finals of all but one tournament in her first season, helping them move up a division by her second year.


Krayer, who played collegiate soccer at Division II USC-Aiken before transferring to George Mason, earned her Bachelor's Degree from George Mason University and also holds her USSF B license.

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Ryan Fairweather

Assistant Coach

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