VSN (admin) Published Saturday, August 13, 2022 – 11:30 AM
Coach Stevan Hernandez has announced that he will be stepping down as the head coach of the
men’s soccer program into an assistant/advisory position while the squad undergoes a head
coaching transition.
Coach Hernandez has left his mark in many ways at St. Andrews. Hernandez’ tenure dates all the
way back to 1998 when he was hired to restart the women’s soccer program as well
tapped as the head coach role for softball.
In 2004, Hernandez would ultimately leave his position at the softball program to take over
role of Head Coach for the men’s soccer team and Director of Soccer for both the men’s and
women’s programs.
Under Hernandez’ guidance, the women’s soccer team experienced a revitalized energy and saw
great success under his tenure. Coach Hernandez oversaw several great athletes come through
the program including Tina Gonsalves, a dual sport athlete in soccer and softball, who was
named the Conference Carolinas Female Athlete of the Year.
Hernandez’ six years with softball, eight years with women’s soccer and 17 years with men’s
soccer team will forever cement him in St. Andrews history as the most winning coach in the
university’s Division II era for the respective sports.
After 2008, Coach Hernandez turned his focus to the men’s soccer program. During the program
found consistent success and a solid foundation to build upon from 2008 and on, it all came
together in 2014 with one of the most impressive and winningest seasons a team at St. Andrews
has ever had.
The 2014 men’s soccer team finished with an overall record of 17-2-1 good enough for 1 st in the
regular season AAC standings before ultimately beating Reinhardt 2-0 for the conference title.
With the AAC title in hand, the 2014 St. Andrews Men’s Soccer team earned themselves a berth
to the NAIA National Tournament where they beat Thomas University to advance to the Sweet
Sixteen where they were knocked out by eventual tournament champions Davenport University.
The Knights were the only team to score against Davenport, netting two goals in that contest.
Coach Hernandez was awarded with the 2014 AAC Coach of the Year Award and the Regional
Coach of the Year from the United Soccer Coaches Association for his incredible coaching
successes that season.
When asked about a memorable moment over his 24 years with St. Andrews, Coach Hernandez
can’t pick just one as he mentions, “there have been so many memorable moments, it’s way too difficult to pick one.”
Aside from coaching, Hernandez also served on the NCAA Soccer Regional Ranking
Committee, while also serving in a similar role on the NAIA Soccer National Rater Committee.
Within the conference and his home state, Hernandez was an acting member of the Men’s Soccer
Sports Chair for the Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) while also serving as the Age Group Director of the North
Carolina Olympic Development Program.
While reminiscing about his time with St. Andrews and his teams, Coach Hernandez states, “it’s
always been about the student-athletes, I’ll miss the daily interaction with them. But I am headed
to a new position, with a younger generation of student-athletes.”
Stevan Hernandez will continue his career in athletics as he assumes the position of Athletic
Director at Marlboro Academy in Bennettsville, South Carolina.
We wish Stevan nothing but success on his future endeavors and celebrate his incredible
successful coaching tenure at St. Andrews. Coach Hernandez fully embodied what it meant to be
a St. Andrew’s Knight by displaying his leadership, discipline, knowledge, passion, and work-
ethics on and off the field.
Forever a Knight! Thank you Coach Hernandez!
St. Andrews University Soccer Men’s Appalachian Athletic Conference Staff
.