Wisconsin Soccer Central

Alverno College turned to an experienced coach to take over its women's soccer program, hiring Richard Drake as the ninth coach in Flames history last month.

He replaces Brittany Nickolic, who was at the helm for the past six years and was the most successful coach in the NCAA Division III program's 14-year history. She left the Milwaukee school in June to take over at Divsion II UW-Parkside.

Drake has served as an assistant at DePaul, Marshall, Minnesota and Cincinnati and spent six seasons in that role at Loyola (Ill.), overseeing the Ramblers' goalkeepers and their recruiting efforts. Most recently, he was a coach and the director of goalkeeping for the Greater Libertyville Soccer Association in Illinois for the past two years.

Alverno was 5-13-1 overall and 2-8-0 in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference last season, tied for eighth in the 11-team league. The Flames open the season Sept. 4 against Crown (Minn.) at the Mount Mary Invitational in Milwaukee.

The Chicago native holds an "A" coaching license from the U.S. Soccer Federation. As a player, Drake spent time with several professional teams – the Rockford Raptors and Minnesota Thunder outdoors and the Cincinnati Silverbacks, Rockford Thunder and Northern Illinois Rebels indoors – following his collegiate career at Aurora (Ill.).

• Lindsey Boldt (Wauwatosa East) was named an assistant at NCAA Division I women's program Duquesne over the summer. Boldt, who was a goalkeeper at Iowa from 2005 to '08, also has coached at Gardner-Webb, South Carolina Upstate, Davidson and most recently at NAIA program Point Park (Pa.) last season.
• Viterbo (14-4-0 last season) was among other teams receiving votes in the NAIA women's preseason Top 25 coaches poll.
• The Big Ten Conference women's tournament will have a different look this season. The top four seeds will play host to quarterfinal matches Nov. 1, with the semifinals and final Nov. 6 and 8 hosted by the regular-season champion.