TACOMA, Washington – Olympic gold medalist Stephanie Cox is ready to lead one of the nation's leading NCAA D-III women's soccer programs. The Loggers' interim head coach is a former member of the U.S. Women's National Team (USWNT), and she earned a gold medal during the 2008 Olympics. She was also a member of the national teams that placed third in 2007 World Cup, and second in the 2011 World Cup. Overall, Cox played 89 games for USWNT. 

Cox played collegiately at the University of Portland, where she was an NCAA D-I National Champion in 2005. 
 
Cox inherits a veteran Logger team that is poised to return to the national ranks. Puget Sound was nationally-ranked for several weeks in 2021, finishing the season with a 16-2-2 overall record. The Loggers placed second in the Northwest Conference standings, continuing the program's streak of placing either first or second in the NWC every season this century.
 
Former Puget Sound head coach Kim Calkins, who earned NWC Coach of the Year in 2021, resigned during the summer to pursue a career outside of coaching.
 
Puget Sound returns six All-NWC players this fall: Tess Carden, Ava Cholakian, Kalina Cordero, Genny Jilka Maskarinec, Chaylea Tome, and Radhika Webster Schultz.
 
By the end of the Loggers' 2021 season, Tome led the nation in shutouts (14). The Loggers' defense posted the best goals-against average in all of NCAA D-III (0.24). Tome also gets it done in the classroom, earning an Academic All-American honor last year.
 
Webster-Schultz scored six times in 2021, and Jilka Maskarinec netted five goals. Cholakian was one of Puget Sound's top-two scorers in 2019 and 2020. Although she scored once in 2021, Cholakian led the Loggers in assists (5).
 
Cordero is a two-time All-NWC selection on the back line, and Carden is a three-time All-NWC recipient as a midfielder.
 
The 2022 season begins at home against Piedmont, Sept. 3. Two days later, the Loggers host nationally-ranked No. 22 Emory. Puget Sound has another nationally-ranked foe, No. 24 Pomona-Pitzer, on the road (Sept. 11).
 
The conference season begins in Tacoma against Linfield (Sept. 17). Puget Sound's Homecoming games are Oct. 8-9 against Willamette and Pacific, respectively.