Mark Sappington joined the Campbell women's soccer staff as an assistant coach in the spring of 2020 after serving as an assistant coach for five seasons at Slippery Rock University. Sappington primarily works with the Campbell goalkeepers.
In his first season at Campbell, Sappington assisted the Camels to a 8-4-1 (6-2-1 Big South) record and its first Big South Championship since 1993. Campbell earned an NCAA Tournament berth for the second time in program history, hosting Iowa in its first round matchup in Buies Creek.
Campbell held a No. 22 National Team Ranking by Top Drawer Soccer following its Big South Championship title and had a program-record four selections to the United Soccer Coaches All-Region teams in Laney Peabody (First Team), Jessica Donald (Second Team), Cazzi Norgren (Third Team) and Elyssa Nowowieski (Third Team). The Camels also tied a program-record with seven All-Big South selections.
Donald was named to the United Soccer Coaches Scholar All-South Second Team and Siara Southerland was named the program's first Big South Christenberry Award winner for maintaining a perfect 4.0 GPA throughout all four years as an undergraduate student. Additionally, Donald was named No. 98 on Top Drawer Soccer's Top 100 Players list while Norgren was named No. 39 on the publication's Top 100 Freshmen list.
The Camels' offense ranked in the national top-30 in six offensive statistical categories, including leading the nation in corner kicks per game (10.69) and a No. 4 ranking in shots per game (18.15).
Sappington helped the Camels post a 0.82 goals allowed average on the season. The team posted six shutouts on the season while conceding only 11 goals in total on the year.
"Mark has been a key component on a staff that has rebuilt programs and successfully developed championship players," said head coach Samar Azem. "He is an extremely hard worker and passionate about the development of the student athletes. He connects well with players and has a background in mental training habits. Mark has established relationships and connections on the recruiting trail which will be an asset to the program. He will be have a role in various aspects of our program including training, developing, and recruiting high level goalkeepers as well as assisting our student-athletes in developing positive mental training habits."
While serving as an assistant coach at Slippery Rock, Sappington directed his keepers to a combined .822 save percentage, 0.95 goals against average and 393 saves along with 41 shutouts and a 63-29-6 record.
Most recently in 2019, Slippery Rock claimed a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Title and a berth to the NCAA Tournament in route to a program record 18 wins.
Sappington joined Slippery Rock after spending one year as an assistant coach with the women's soccer team at the University of Scranton. Prior to that he spent two years as a volunteer assistant with Shippensburg University men's and women's soccer programs.
Sappington pairs his abundance of coaching experience with four years on the pitch in college where he served in goal at Wheeling Jesuit University.
