Alyssa Radu has accomplished big things since taking over the NJIT women's soccer program in January 2004.
In just her second year as head coach, she oversaw the most successful season in the program's 10-year history. Now, she steers the Highlanders up to NCAA Division I, as they played their first Division I schedule in 2006 and were certified for full Division I championship eligibility in the summer of 2007, becoming NJIT's first women's sport to achieve full Division I status.
With an 8-6-3 overall record in 2005, the program established new standards for overall wins (8) and conference wins (7) in its final season in Division II. The 2005 Highlanders also earned the program's first postseason berth (ECAC Division II tournament).
After the 2006 season, highlighted by a 3-1 win over Howard, Radu and assistant coach Kevin Leacock launched a recruiting effort that effectively doubled the roster size, with 10 freshmen on the 21-player 2007 preseason roster.
The fifth women's soccer head coach in NJIT history, the energetic Radu was a college assistant coach, with two years at Centenary (NJ) following a stellar playing career. Centenary set new school win records in each of her two seasons.
Radu has coached club soccer and studied under the youth coaches of top professional European clubs, Manchester United and PSV Eindhoven. She holds coaching licenses from both the NSCAA and USSF.
A four-year starter for Rutgers (1997-2000), she played in the W- League for the NJ Splash and also was a member of the PDA club team that was a national finalist (champion once) in consecutive years.
A native of Pittsburgh, PA, Radu played at Upper St. Clair High, where her nationally-ranked teams were a state finalist and two-time district finalist. She also won 10 state cups and one regional club title and was a regional ODP pool player.
In addition to her coaching, she worked in public relations and marketing for a Pennsylvania firm and for two years was partner in an e-commerce business.
Radu resides in Newark.
