The Fresno State women’s soccer team celebrated more than just its first win Sunday afternoon. The team also celebrated Brian Zwaschka’s 100th career win at Fresno State.
Zwaschka entered his 14th season as head coach for the Bulldogs this year, making him the longest tenured coach in program history. He has coached over 230 games and now holds the most wins at 100 games.
“I thought it was going to come probably earlier than this, but the fact that it came at this moment and in a conference game is really overwhelming. It’s really about reflecting on the whole program,” Zwaschka said.
He took to Twitter after Fresno State Soccer tweeted congratulating him on his new career high win.
“It takes a village. This is about the whole Fresno State community, staff, administration, coaches, doctors, the whole Central Valley. I congratulate all of them! Dedicated to my parents,” Zwaschka said.
The Iowa native started his journey at Fresno State on April 6, 2009, after being an assistant coach at UC Berkeley.
He has led the Bulldogs in three Western Athletic Conference (WAC) tournament appearances, including one championship in 2010, one WAC regular season runner-up finish, one WAC tournament runner-up finish, two MW regular season runner-up finishes, seven MW tournament appearances and one NCAA tournament appearance.
“The fact that this was the first win certainly made it specifically about this team, which is great, and they deserve it, but I think back all the way to 2009 when I got my actual first one here and all those programs and all those players in between, have contributed to it,” Zwaschka said.
Zwaschka has helped develop several known faces for the international stage, including Iceland National Team veteran KatrÃn Ómarsdóttir and U.S. Women’s National Team forward Alex Morgan. Morgan went on to score the winning goal in the FIFA U20 World Cup tournament in 2008 in Chile, and received Silver Ball and the Bronze Show awards.
Before he was head coach for the Bulldogs, Zwaschka had developed a respectable coaching and playing history. He played for Grand View University from 1990-92, earning NAIA All-America and District 15 Player of the Year honors.
He played professionally for six years after he graduated from Grand View on teams such as USL’s Des Moines Menace and the Connecticut Wolves, formerly of the A-League level. He also gained four years of playing abroad in Scotland and England and two seasons in France.
He started his coaching career at a soccer club, coaching with the Waukee Soccer Club and the Iowa United Soccer Club. He then moved up in his career as an assistant coach the following years for high schools and universities.
He became an assistant coach for Dowling High School in Des Moines, Iowa before returning to his alma mater to coach. He then ventured to Texas Tech and Cal, coaching two NCAA Division I teams.
In his 14th season now with the Bulldogs, Zwaschka is hopeful for the rest of the team’s conference season.
“I feel like all the things that have not worked out for us this season are just adding to that bank of resilience and I was so happy for this group to finally see it come to fruition,” Zwaschka said.