Melissa Sherwood brings head coaching experience to the Northwestern State staff as she begins her first season as an assistant coach.
Sherwood has been a head coach for the past five years, taking over South Carolina State in 2020 after four seasons at the helm of Saint Peter’s.
Sherwood didn’t coach a game at SCSU because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but she started the program rebuild by recruiting 13 players with limited resources.
She lifted an underfunded Saint Peter’s to new heights in her tenure.
Her 2018 squad posted the most conference wins (in the MAAC) in nearly a decade in just her second season after being one of the youngest Division I head coaches hired at 27 in 2016.
The Peacocks finished seventh in the MAAC with three league wins and 10 points overall, the best placement in 20 years.
Saint Peter’s won consecutive matches in the 2019 season for the first time in 25 years, matching the program’s overall win total with three.
Sherwood assumed the Saint Peter’s head coaching role after impressing as the head coach at Immaculata High in New Jersey and as the director of female club soccer at Advanced Total Soccer Coaching.
She coached the private school from 2012-15 while serving in the club soccer role from 2011-14.
As a player, Sherwood competed at England’s top college program (Leeds Metropolitan University) as part of a 10-year playing career with sides such as Leeds United, Huddersfield Town, Preston North End, Sheffield Wednesday and Sheffield among others.
Leeds Metropolitan won the BUCS national championship in 2008 and won their conference in every season with Sherwood.
Sherwood played professionally in leagues in Australia (Central Coast Mariners) and the United States (North Jersey Valkyries).
She earned her bachelors degree in sports performance in 2011.
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