GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— Jody Lingafeldt, a veteran with more than a decade of collegiate coaching experience, including the last five seasons at the University of California, Davis, has been hired as Colorado Mesa University's head women's soccer coach, CMU Director of Athletics Joan McDermott announced Tuesday morning.  
 
Lingafeldt has been the Aggies' top assistant coach at the NCAA Division I level since 2019 as an inaugural member of Tracy Hamm's coaching staff and also has successful experience at the Division II level after serving in similar roles at Dominican University and Sonoma State University in Northern California for the previous five seasons. 
 
Additionally, Lingafeldt is currently on staff as a head coach with the Olympic Development Program (ODP) West Region Girls, as well the USYS (US Youth Soccer) National ODP Coaching staff. She currently holds her USSF (U.S. Soccer Federation) "B" Coaching License.
 
"We are thrilled to have Jody lead our women's soccer program.  She has a tremendous amount of successful experience at various levels of soccer and will be a natural fit with our current team and assistant coach (Issi Bautista)," McDermott said.
 
"Jody also has extensive and deep recruiting connections that will help her continue our program's success for years to come," McDermott continued.
 
"I am extremely excited to be making the transition to Grand Junction, Colorado this summer," Lingafeldt said. "I cannot thank athletic director Joan McDermott, assistant coach Issi Bautista and the rest of the search committee enough for trusting me to be the next head coach of Colorado Mesa University women's soccer program. I am honored to be joining a successful program and tremendous athletic department."
 
Lingafeldt was a lead recruiter at all three of her recent institutions and helped lead the UC Davis Aggies to their best seasons in their Division I history.  In 2022, they defeated both a nationally-ranked opponent (Santa Clara) and a Pac-12 opponent (Oregon State) for the first time in program history and had their best regular season finish in the Big West Conference standings, placing second.  The success was also prevalent in 2021 and 2023, when the Aggies won ten games in both seasons while reaching the Big West Tournament for the second straight year in 2023.
 
In her five seasons, the Aggies had seven first team and 17 overall All-Big West selections. 
 
In 2023, Leslie Fregoso was named as the Big West's Midfielder of the Year and to the United Soccer Coaches' Second Team All-West Region squad.  Hamm was also named as the 2023 Big West Conference Coach of the Year.
 
"Coach Tracy Hamm at UC Davis women's soccer is one of the most elite mentors in the country. She has shaped me into the coach I am today and I hope to use the tools I learned from her to continue paving the way for the women's soccer program at Colorado Mesa," Lingafeldt said.
 
In addition to her collegiate and ODP experience, Lingafeldt has more than 20 years of coaching experience at some of the top elite youth clubs in Northern California. She is currently the College Pathway Advisor for the Davis Legacy Soccer Club, which just had their largest signing class in club history. She started her coaching career as an assistant coach at Sonoma State, her alma mater after playing at Sacramento State and Sonoma State as a student-athlete.
 
As the recruiting coordinator at Dominican, she helped bring in the most elite recruiting class in the Penguins' history, which resulted in their highest wins total since joining the Division II level in 2011.  On top of her duties as assistant coach, developing training sessions and leading film analysis, Lingafeldt also directed the Penguins' academic support program that produced a program team GPA record of 3.51 at the end of the 2018 season.
 
Prior to Dominican, she spent three seasons (2014-16) as the assistant coach at Sonoma State in what was her second stint with the Seawolves.  In that time, she helped lead the Rohnert Park, California institution to a pair of NCAA Division II Tournament appearances, including a quarterfinal bid as well as a 2015 CCAA title.  They also went 12-3-3 overall and 10-1-1 in CCAA play in 2016, which ended in a second consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament.  She also mentored seven United Soccer Coaches All-Americans and 15 All-CCAA selections in those three seasons.
 
Academically, Lingafeldt holds a master's degree in coaching and athletic administration from Concordia University Irvine (2017) and a bachelor's degree in kinesiology and athletic training from Sonoma State (1999).
 
Lingafeldt also holds a NSCAA Advanced National Diploma With Distinction and Director of Coaching Diploma.
 
The Mavericks will be coming off a record-setting 2023 season that saw them win the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament before advancing to the NCAA South Central Regional title game after picking up two of their school-record 18 overall wins (18-4-1).