BUIES CREEK, N.C. – Head coach Stuart Horne announced that Campbell alumna Samar Azem will join the women's soccer staff as an assistant coach this season. A goalkeeper for the Camels from 2003-07, she has been at the helm of the Anderson University women's soccer program for the past three seasons.
"Having known her for several years, Samar was one of the first people I thought of when I accepted the head coach position here," Horne said. "She's going to add a lot to our program being a former student athlete here, and as a former head coach."
At Anderson, she compiled a 21-24-9 overall record, with a 12-10-7 mark in three years of South Atlantic Conference play. After the 2013 season, three Trojans were placed on SAC all-conference teams, including three-time selection, goalkeeper Kaitlyn Neipp. Azem coached 10 Trojans to postseason all-conference accolades during her tenure.
In 2011, Anderson reached the semifinal round of the SAC Tournament, the first ever appearance for the Trojans, and Azem guided the team to a No. 8 ranking in the Southeast Region during the regular season.
Prior to arriving at Anderson, Azem served as an assistant coach at Presbyterian for the 2010 season, where she primarily focused on goalkeeper training. Blue Hose goalkeepers recorded five shutouts on the season with a 1.99 goals-against average, the strongest by a PC team during the transition to NCAA Division I. While at Presbyterian, Azem took the lead in designing, creating and implementing PC's first-ever winter camp and worked with supporters and community groups to raise funds for facility upgrades and to boost awareness in the community.
Azem was the top assistant at Mercer in the 2008 and 2009 seasons. The Bears won their first ever regular season Atlantic Sun championship in 2008, as Azem coached keeper Jean Worts, whose goals-against-average ranked 11th in the nation among Division I goalkeepers, while the overall defense ranked sixth nationally.
In 2007, Azem began her coaching career as an assistant at Brevard College, where she coordinated recruiting, team travel, scouting, and game-day preparations.
Azem also brings club coaching experience to the Creek. She was the head coach of the 2012 '97 CESA Anderson and part of the SC ODP (Olympic Development Program) staff and 2000 girls' head coach. While at Mercer, she trained goalkeepers at the Central Georgia Soccer Association and the Macon Soccer Club, two of Central Georgia's largest soccer clubs. Azem has trained and evaluated young players at Carolina Elite Soccer Association and has also organized and overseen camp and clinic sessions with a number of top Georgia clubs in the Atlanta region.
During her collegiate playing career at Campbell University, Azem helped lead the Fighting Camels to the A-Sun Conference regular-season and tournament championships in 2004. In 2005 she was named to the all-Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament Team for her performance in goal, helping the Camels return to the conference tournament title match. Azem also garnered A-Sun all-academic recognition and earned the squad's Coaches Award twice (2005-06).
She remains in the CU women's soccer record book, holding the third-most career saves with 183 and is sixth for goals-against average at 1.39.
The Jos, Nigeria, native graduated with a bachelor's degree in broadcasting and a minor in psychology from Campbell in 2007 and earned her master's degree in education from Mercer in 2010.
