American International College head women's soccercoach Matt Johnson and coaching staff including Kevon Isa of Trinidad & Tobago has been named the 2012 East Region Coaches of the Year by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America.
The announcement was made following a vote of the East Region head coaches. Johnson & Isa, who was named the 2012 Northeast-10 Coach of the Year, led AIC to an overall record of 13-4-2 and the Northeast-10 regular season title with a conference mark of 12-1-2 in 2012 after the Yellow Jackets were picked to finish ninth in the NE-10 preseason coaches' poll.
This marked the second conference regular season title for AIC, the first ofwhich was in 1998. A native and current resident of Holyoke, Johnson and Isa a native of Trinidad and current resident of Springfield, MA, just completed there seventh season guiding the women's soccer program at AIC, during which time they havw completely rebuilt the program.
The Yellow Jackets have gone 34-20-5 during the past three seasons and have made two trips to the NCAA tournament during that span. A total of 16 players have earned Northeast-10 all-conference honors during his tenure, which includes two major award winners. Johnson & Isa was also named the 2010 Northeast-10 Coaching Staff of the Year after the Yellow Jackets went 14-7-1 and qualified for post season play for the first time in 10 years.
AIC was seeded fourth and advanced tothe semifinals of the Norhteast-10 tournament with a 2-1 win over Southern New Hampshire. The Yellow Jackets then posted the program's first-ever NCAA tournament win with a 3-0 first round victory over Georgian Court.