Erin Sullivan
Mountainside Soccer Academy Camp Director
Erin Sullivan has over 20 years of experience coaching, directing, and overseeing soccer camps throughout the Northeast. He has directed the Soccer Academy at Williams, now Mountainside Soccer Academy, since 2015 and has been affiliated with the original Williams Soccer Academy since the mid-1990's.
Sullivan most recently served as Head Men's Soccer Coach at Williams College from 2015-2021, posting a cumulative record of 42-23-19, leading the Ephs to 5 consecutive winning seasons and NESCAC Tournament Appearances during that span. In 2018, the Ephs won the Little Three Championship, were NESCAC Tournament Runners Up, and earned an at-large bid to the 2018 NCAA Tournament. In 2021, Sullivan accepted a new position as the Director of Intramurals and continued to teach Physical Education classes at Williams as a member of the faculty.
In the Spring of 2023, Sullivan founded Mountainside Soccer Academy LLC, a new coaching venture dedicated to coaching and teaching the game in process-oriented and growth mindset environments not specifically geared toward results or winning.
In addition to his experience operating Mountainside Soccer Academy and The Soccer Academy at Williams, Sullivan owned and operated the Western New England Soccer Academy from 2009-2014 and coached and/or directed numerous recruiting camps including UMass, Indiana, and St. John's. Sullivan also served as a camp director at Tony DiCicco's famed Soccer Plus Goalkeepers School for several years.
Sullivan, a native of Voorheesville, N.Y. grew up a multi-sport athlete in the foothills of Albany's Capital Region. He attended numerous baseball, basketball, and soccer camps as a youth and credits his experiences in those camps and other recreational programs for his passion for coaching young athletes. A two-sport captain (soccer/basketball) at Clayton A. Bouton HS in Voorheesville, NY, Sullivan led the Blackbirds to the 1990 NYS Soccer Championship and received numerous accolades. He would go on to be a three-year starter in goal and captain the Ephs 1995 NCAA Championship squad.
Sullivan graduated from Williams in 1996 with a B.A. in English and History after backstopping two Ephs teams that played in the NCAA Championship match in 1993 and 1995, both times on the Ephs' Cole Field.
In Sullivan's four undergraduate years in the Purple Valley the Ephs were 58-6-5 (.871) and 48-2-3 (.934) his last three years with two appearances in NCAA title games. Playing 3,821 minutes in goal in 46 appearances Sullivan fashioned a career goals against record of .495 and authored 21 clean sheets and is the holder of several program records to this day.
The Ephs hosted the 1995 NCAA semifinals and finals and this time Williams captured the title after eliminating Muhlenberg in a penalty kick shootout with Sullivan stopping three Muhlenberg attempts with November snowflakes falling. The 6-5 penalty kick margin put the Ephs into the NCAA championship match versus undefeated Methodist College.
The Ephs stopped the Methodist undefeated run at 21 wins with a 2-1 win to claim the NCAA title and finish the season without suffering a loss – 17-0-2.
Sullivan was named to the National Soccer Coaches Association of America All-New England First Team in 1995 and a Senior Bowl selection. In 1992 Sullivan won the Ephs' Henry M. Flynt Freshman of the Year Award and in 1995 was named the winner of the Myles Fox Memorial soccer Trophy recognizing character, integrity, and leadership.
Prior to returning to coach at Williams, Sullivan served as Head Men's Soccer Coach, Assistant Athletic Director, Compliance Coordinator, and Director of Event Management at Western New England University; In 2006, Sullivan earned a Master's of Business Administration from WNE and was inducted into the Beta Gamma Sigma Graduate Honor Society.
In his 15 years as the head coach of the Golden Bears Sullivan posted a record of 207-96-37 (.663), ranking first all-time at WNE in wins and winning percentage and leading WNE to eight NCAA Tournament appearances.
Sullivan was named the Commonwealth Coast Conference Coach of the Year three times (2007, 2009, and 2011) and he was named the Great Northeast Athletic Conference Coach of the Year four times (2001, 2004, 2005, and 2006). In 2005 Sullivan was named the National Soccer Coaches Association of America New England Region Coach of the Year and a Finalist for National Coach of the Year.
Sullivan was the first WNE coach to take the Golden Bears to the NCAA Divisions III Tournament and he did so eight times in his tenure, including a string of six straight appearances from 2004-09, posting a career NCAA Tournament record of 8-6-2.
Prior to becoming the head coach at Western New England Sullivan served as an assistant coach at three NCAA Division I institutions. He served as an assistant coach at St. John's University on the coaching staff that led the nationally-ranked Red Storm to the 1999 NCAA Tournament Round of 32 and as the goalkeeper coach for both the men's and women's soccer teams at Cornell University. He also coached as a volunteer assistant at Lafayette College.
Sullivan's head coaching career began in 1996 at Delbarton School in Morristown, N.J. He was promoted to Head Coach in just his second season and led the Green Wave to the Northern Hills Conference, Morris County Tournament, and New Jersey Parochial Class A Championships in 1997, compiling a record of 23-0-1 and being tabbed as the Northern Hills Conference Coach of the Year.
As The Soccer Academy enters its fifth decade of operation, many things have changed in the beautiful game, but the focus on high quality soccer instruction, teaching the game through fun and competitive team environments, and an emphasis on life lessons learned from sport have remained at the forefront.
Numerous former Soccer Academy campers have gone on to become MSA staff coaches and children of former campers attend MSA camps today continuing the Soccer Academy's astounding legacy and traditions in the Berkshires.
