PHILADELPHIA, PA - (Friday, January 15, 2010) – FieldTurf announced the winners of its fourth annual FieldTurf Soccer Awards for the 2009 today at the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) Convention in Philadelphia, recognizing Richmond Kickers Director of Soccer and Head Coach as 2009 USL Second Division Coach of the Year.  The honor is bestowed upon Cowlishaw for the second time in the career after taking the award following the 2006 Championship season.

Finishing his 10th year at the helm, Cowlishaw has led the Kickers to five USL Finals in eight years, taking the USL-2 title for a second time in 2009.  Inducted into the USL Hall of Fame last fall, he has yet to experience a losing season in his career as head coach, which has seen him post an overall regular season record of 138-62-46 over the first 10 years (through 2009) and a mark of 9-6-12 in the playoffs. He led the club to a regular season championship on three occasions, finishing first in 2001 in the USL First Division and winning the title back-to-back in USL-2 in 2006 and 2007.

Also successful as a professional player (1993-1998), Cowlishaw helped the Kickers win the “Double” with the U.S. Open Cup and the Premier Development League championships in 1995.  He resides in the top 10 on the Kickers all-time goals scored list (19), all-time points list (49) and all-time assists list (11) and was honored as the first Kicker to have his number (13) retired. 

In addition to coaching the Kickers pro team, Cowlishaw serves as Director of Soccer, providing technical direction and guidance for all levels of the Kickers organization and serving on the board of the Richmond Kickers Youth Soccer Club.  He works closely with the technical staff to ensure all programs uphold the club philosophy of high integrity and character building and oversees all player-personnel decision making at the professional level.

FieldTurf Soccer Award winners in 11 different categories were honored based on tabulated votes from FieldTurf executives and a panel consisting of Al Albert, Tonya Antonucci, Durward Williams, Tanya Vogel, Cam Rast, Larry Sunderland, Mike Anhaeuser, and Matt Reis.

This year’s winners are:

• MLS Coach of the Year – Jason Kreis, Real Salt Lake
• USL Division 1 Coach of the Year – Gavin Wilkinson, Portland Timbers
• USL Division 2 Coach of the Year – Leigh Cowlishaw, Richmond Kickers
• USL W-League Coach of the Year – Craig Smith, Ottawa Fury
• NCAA Division 1 Coach of the Year (Men’s Soccer) - George Gelnovatch, University of Virginia
• NCAA Division 1 Coach of the Year (Women’s Soccer) - Paul Ratcliffe, Stanford University
• MLS Team of the Year – Seattle Sounders
• USL Team of the Year – Montreal Impact
• NCAA Team of the Year – Akron University (Men’s)
• National High School Team of the Year (Boys) - St. Thomas Aquinas HS (Overland Park, KS)
• National High School Team of the Year (Girls) – LaSalle Academy (Providence, RI)