Samar Azem, who enters her fifth season at the helm of Campbell women’s soccer in 2021, has led the program to the top of the Big South Conference and back into the NCAA Tournament.
She was named head coach in July of 2017 after serving as an assistant coach for one year and an associate head coach for two seasons. In 2020, Azem received a contract extension through the 2024 season. An alumna of Campbell, Azem served as a goalkeeper with the women’s soccer program from 2003-07.
Over her first four seasons as head coach, Azem has led the Camels to a 38-26-6 overall record (.578) and a 24-9-5 record in Big South play (.697).
During the COVID-19 delayed and shortened 2020-21 schedule, Azem led Campbell to an 8-4-1 (6-2-1 Big South) record and its first Big South Championship since 1993. The Camels earned an NCAA Tournament berth for the second time in program history, hosting Iowa 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 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).
Azem's overall head coaching record stands at 51-46-14.
Azem led the Camels to historic heights in her third season at the helm of the program. In 2019, the Camels posted a 13-4-2 overall record (8-1-1 Big South) and ranked in the top-15 nationally in eight different statistical categories, including a No. 5 ranking in assists per game and a No. 9 ranking in scoring offense. The success on the pitch led to the program’s highest-ever regular-season finish (2nd) as a member of the Big South and its sixth-straight trip to the semifinals of the Big South Conference Tournament.
The Camels also finished the season leading the Big South in 11 statistical categories while 13 players finished among the nation’s top-30 across nine statistical columns.
Azem fielded a team that featured a program-record seven All-Big South honorees headlined by the Big South Attacking Player of the Year Alexa Genas in 2019, who earned the honor for the second time in her career. Genas became the first player in program history to garner the honor twice and just the fifth player in league history to tab multiple Big South annual accolades.
Along with setting the program-record for most all-conference honorees, the Camels set a new program and Big South record for the most league weekly honors in a season with 10.
Genas registered 46 career goals to sit tied for second in school history and fourth in the Big South while her career point total ranks fifth in the league record books. Her success led to the first time a Campbell player has ever been named to the United Soccer Coaches Association All-Southeast Region First Team.
In her second season as head coach, Azem and the Camels posted a 7-11-1 (5-4-1 Big South) record. Alexa Genas and Anna Brantley were both selected to the All-Big South teams while Jessica Donald was named to the Big South All-Freshman team. Azem led the Camels to its fifth consecutive appearance in the Big South Championship semifinals.
Azem was named head coach of the program before the 2017 season, as she led the Camels to an overall record of 10-7-2 (5-2-2 Big South) in her first year at the helm. For the second consecutive season, the Camels netted a Big South best 40 goals. CU also led the conference in goals per game (2.11), points (108) and corners (108). Under Azem's tutelage, sophomore Alexa Genas had a historic year, netting 15 goals, the fourth-most in single season program history. At the end of the season Genas was named the Big South Attacking Player of the Year, becoming the second player in Campbell history to win the award. Additionally, Genas, alongside Anna Brantley and Shelby Denkert, picked up all-conference accolades while Siara Southerland was named to the all-freshman team. Azem led the Camels to its fourth consecutive appearance in the Big South Championship semifinals.
In 2016, Azem's third year as an assistant, she helped coach an attack that led the conference in goals (40), assists (43) and points (123). The Camels had six athletes named to all-conference teams, including first team selections Alexa Genas, Payton Ormsby and Murita Storey. The Campbell defense posted six shutouts on the year, including three in a row to end the season and clinch a top-4 in the conference tournament.
In her second season, Azem was named associate head coach as she continued to improve the Camels goalkeepers and defense. The team finished the 2015 campaign with a 0.99 goals-against average overall and a 1.11 goals-against in Big South play. The senior goalkeeping duo of Alexis Connors and Samantha Lawson recorded a combined eight shutouts during the season en route to Campbell's runner-up finish in the Big South Tournament. The Camels' ranked fourth in the Big South in goals per game (1.52), while the team's 39 assists ranked first in the conference and 26th nationally. The team finished third in the conference in total goals on the season (32) and second in total points (103).
Azem returned to her alma mater in 2014, serving as an assistant coach for Campbell. She primarily focused on goalkeepers and the defense. During her first season, the Camels defensive group only allowed 24 goals in 18 matches, earning the second best goals against average in the Big South at 1.18, an improvement of the 2.27 goals against average (39 goals) from the season prior. The Camels' goalkeeper tandem of Alexis Connors and Samantha Lawson combined for five shutouts. Azem also devoted time to working with and bettering the other aspects of the team throughout training and Big South games.
Prior to arriving at Campbell, Azem served as the head coach at Anderson University for three seasons (2011-13). She compiled a 21-24-9 overall record, with a 12-10-7 mark in three years of South Atlantic Conference (SAC) 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 for the first time in program history. Azem also guided the team to a No. 8 ranking in the Southeast Region during the regular season.
Prior to 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 GAA, the best mark by a PC team during the school's transition to the Division I level. 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 of the team in the community.
Azem was the top assistant at Mercer during the 2008 and 2009 seasons. The Bears won their first ever regular season Atlantic Sun championship in 2008, as Azem coached keeper Jean Worts. Her goals allowed 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 club team and part of the SC Olympic Development Program staff. 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. She has trained and evaluated young players at the Carolina Elite Soccer Association and has 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, Azem helped the Fighting Camels to the A-Sun Conference regular-season and tournament championships in 2004 as a goalkeeper. 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).
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.
