Beth Lebel wanted to try coaching outside of Maine. That’s how she ended up in Albuquerque.

The former girls soccer and lacrosse standout at Lewiston High School and University of Maine-Farmington is in her third season as a volunteer coach for the University of New Mexico women’s soccer team, working with the goalkeepers and serving as the NCAA Division I program’s director of operations.

She learned about the position at the United Soccer Coaches Convention in Kansas City, Missouri, in January 2022.

“So I was excited about something different,” Lebel said of going to New Mexico. “And I think when I had two Zoom interviews with the staff, Heather (Dyche), who’s the head coach, Karley (Nelson), who’s the associate head coach, and Paul (Maestas), who’s one of the assistant coaches, and you just know when there are good people.

“So, I had two Zoom interviews. I didn’t even visit campus, actually, before I accepted the job. But just the sense that I got on the call from all of them that it was going to be a really awesome place to be.”

During her soccer career at UMaine-Farmington, Lebel recorded the second-most wins by a goalie and ranks fifth in the program in saves and saves per game.

She started coaching soon after graduating from college in 2014. She started working with the Beavers’ women’s soccer team (2014-20) as an assistant coach and was the women’s lacrosse head coach (2016-20) before becoming Colby College’s assistant women’s soccer coach in 2020 and interim head coach in 2021.

“When I was at Farmington as a student-athlete, I just loved the game,” Lebel said. “I loved being around my teammates, and I didn’t really want to see any of that go away. So as I was studying, I was always trying to figure out, you know, what job could work with coaching. I worked in sports information at the time, I was like a student assistant, and our sports information director (Pete Lefresne) at the time looked at me, and I’m like trying to figure things out. He’s like, ‘Beth, why don’t you just make coaching the career?’ And I was like, it was like a light bulb moment, right? Like, oh, yeah, that’s a really good point.”

Lebel, who graduated from Lewiston High School in 2010, led the UMF women’s lacrosse team the North Atlantic Conference championship game in 2019 after the Beavers notched their first 10-win season.

Lebel said she decided to start focusing solely on soccer because she had more experience in that sport than lacrosse. She currently holds U.S. Soccer National C License, which she earned at an event in New Jersey this summer.

MAKING THE COACHING DREAM WORK

Like many aspiring coaches, Lebel had to work other jobs to support herself. But in those jobs she found aspects similar to coaching, especially working in the ER department at Central Maine Medical Center as a secretary during her time at UMF as a student-athlete and in her first year of coaching.

“The emergency room was a fun experience, too, because it was still a team environment, but a little bit higher stress a lot of the time because people’s lives are on the line,” Lebel said.

When Lebel was hired by the University of New Mexico, it was for a volunteer coaching position. One of the conditions for accepting the job was a paying job with a youth soccer team in Albuquerque.

“So I was hired on with Albuquerque United FC as an associate director of coaching, and that was for the past two years,” Lebel said. “Then AUFC merged with another club, New Mexico Soccer Academy, and so I’m going to continue on with that club, but just as a coach, no longer as a director of coaching. UNM’s director of operations position is paid.”

LEARNING FROM COACHES

Lebel first became a goalie because her youth soccer team didn’t have one.

“We needed a goalkeeper for like a league game or something, and coach just asked, and I just happened to raise my hand and got a taste of it and just loved it,” Lebel said. “I never really looked back, and then got formal goalkeeper training when I was in high school, so that was great — with Butch Dow. He’s been around the block a few times, and he was great, taught me technique, and, obviously, I’ve taken that as a foundation.”

Her soccer and lacrosse coach at UMF, Mollie Wilkie, also inspired Lebel to get into coaching.

The pair guided the Beavers to the North Atlantic Conference championship in 2018. “We had a good group of players, but also I was just really happy for Molly, just as someone that I look up to as a person and as a coach,” Lebel said.

The New Mexico job is another chance for Lebel to learn from other coaches.

“I took on the interim head coach role at Colby after Kristen (Shaw) had left,” Lebel said. “And I enjoyed that experience, too, but at the same time, I wanted to experience working with another coach, like in a true full season, you know, not a COVID season, but like in-seasons where we were playing games and getting that type of experience, so that I could feel good about whatever position I was going into next.”

While Lebel’s ultimate goal is to return to the NCAA Division III level, or even Division II, as a head coach, she’s enjoying her time with the Lobos.

“Division III, for sure, I think, for me, which is really cool to give back to a program in similar ways and get out of the experience what I got, in terms of it being holistic,” Lebel said. “And to be fair, the staff here, when I got here, you know, Heather, Karley and Paul, were already doing a really good job. They really do believe in a holistic experience for our student-athletes, even though we’re able to have more time with them, train more with them in the spring, and whatnot.

“But, yeah, I think I’d be open to Division II as well. But, yeah, right now, the goal is still Division III. And like I said, I am really happy where I am.”