Kansas Wesleyan University Vice President and Director of Athletics Mike Hermann has announced the hiring of Henrik Sohn as the Coyotes’ new head women’s soccer coach.

Sohn becomes the fifth coach in the history of the KWU women’s soccer program and follows Kat Benton, who coached two seasons before leaving to take an assistant coach position at Kansas State.

Sohn is no stranger to Kansas Wesleyan and the women’s soccer program. He spent the last two seasons as an assistant coach for the Coyotes, working with both the men’s and women’s programs as goalkeeper coach in 2017 and exclusively working as an assistant with the women’s program in 2018.

“As an assistant coach, Henrik was among the best graduate assistant coaches we’ve had at Kansas Wesleyan,” Hermann said. “It was no surprise that in his pursuit of the position, he demonstrated passion, preparedness, professionalism and an exciting vison for the program. I’m confident he’ll be an outstanding head coach and will be able to take our program to the next level.”

He helped lead the women’s soccer program to a 17-3-2 overall record, and an 11-0-1 record in the KCAC, winning the KCAC Regular Season and Tournament titles and making an appearance in the NAIA Women’s Soccer National Championship Opening Round for the first time since 2016.

“Overall, I want the program to be a valuable part of the KWU and Salina community off the field. On the field, I am very familiar with the current team and plan to continue to play a high intensity style of soccer,” Sohn said. “The Coyote brand soccer has always been possession oriented and I plan to continue this style, while implementing a disciplined defense and a creative offense.”

He briefly left KWU to take an assistant coaching position at South Carolina Beaufort, but once learning of the opening at KWU, he saw the opportunity to return to the program.

“I would like to thank Mike Hermann and the search committee for the opportunity to return to Kansas Wesleyan. I enjoyed my time at KWU and always hoped to have the chance to return one day,” Sohn said. “However, I did not expect that day to be this soon, but I am more than excited. The relationships built with the team and the staff are what attracted me most to return. KWU has an outstanding culture and a great atmosphere of which I cannot wait to return to.”

Before arriving at Kansas Wesleyan, Sohn played at the University of Great Falls (now University of Providence) in Great Falls, Mont., for four seasons as a goalkeeper. While there, he was a two-time Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athlete and was named to the Frontier Conference Academic All-Conference team.

Sohn has also coached numerous youth teams, including at Sporting Kaw Valley, Rush Montana Soccer Club, Montana United and at CMR High School in Great Falls, Mont.

He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Health and Human Performance from the University of Providence and a Master of Business Administration degree from Kansas Wesleyan.

He holds a USSF National ‘E’ Coaching License and a United Soccer Coaches Level 1 Goalkeeping Diploma.

“We have a strong group of returners and a strong incoming class. The top of the KCAC will be very competitive, but I expect us to continue being competitive at top of the conference,” Sohn said. “Ultimately, we want to return to the NAIA tournament and advance further than we have in the past.”

The women’s soccer team will step on the pitch for the first time with Sohn leading the program in an exhibition with Fort Hays State, led by former KWU coach Blake Reynolds, on August 23 at the Graves Family Sports Complex. The regular season opens with a trip to California facing The Master’s on August 31 and Westmont on September 2. The regular season home opener is September 7 against MidAmerica Nazarene at Noon at the Graves Family Sports Complex.