Staten Island, NY |  The College of Staten Island Department of Athletics has named Jackie Bruno as its new Head Coach for Women's Soccer, a position that also holds Equipment Manager duties.  Bruno is the fourth women's soccer coach in the program's history, and takes over for Brittany Casares, who resigned from the position in early November.  She will officially start her appointment on December 5.

"Jackie is a native Staten Islander who is a very well-known and well-respected member of the soccer community and we expect that to pay dividends for us as we welcome her to the College of Staten Island program," said CSI Director of Athletics Charles Gomes.  "We feel that her contacts in the soccer community will lead to improved recruiting efforts, getting students to select CSI as a first-choice, destination campus.  Her college and overseas playing experience will certainly be a benefit to our program and we are excited to welcome her and eagerly anticipate her working with our program moving forward."

A former high school standout on Staten Island and then a top-level collegiate and professional player, Bruno will be building on an abridged coaching career that has had stops at nearby Wagner College and the New York/New Jersey Red Bulls Grassroots Programs.  The appointment at the College of Staten Island is her first collegiate head coaching appointment.

"As a Staten Island native, I've been involved and interested in what has happened at the College of Staten Island for the entirety of my life, and it's exciting to see the school's move to Division II and the progressions that have been made," said Bruno.  "I'm looking forward to making an impact right from the get-go."  

Bruno, 25, already brings a rich soccer history in tow with her to the Dolphins ranks.  A standout at Staten Island Technical High School, she was a four-time Staten Island Advance All-Star and 2011 Wingate Award winner, tallying 91 career goals and 25 assists en route to a PSAL Championship in 2009 and All-State honors in 2009 & 2011.  From 2012-16, she starred for NCAA Division I UMass-Amherst, collecting 31 points on 13 goals and five assists with six game-winners.  She was named captain in 2014 and was a 2015 NEWISA Senior Bowl participant. 

Bruno continued to compete professionally post-graduation.  She was an All-UWS First-Team selection in 2016 & 2017 with New Jersey Copa FC, and was on the Sky Blue FC preseason roster in March of 2017, before landing with Telge United FF in Sweden, tallying five points in just 120 minutes before an injury sidelined her career a year ago.  The high-level playing career gives her understanding on what to look for at this level of soccer.

"I feel that playing at the Division I level and playing professionally has given me the tools and understanding of how things need to be in order to achieve success," said Bruno.  "I want to accelerate our women's soccer program as quickly as possible.  Having been a part of these extremely competitive programs will help me recreate that culture here, helping us acclimate to the Division II level of pay." 

Alongside her tremendous playing career, Bruno has been on the coaching circuit as well before landing at CSI.  Serving as a private instructor for many years, she worked with U9 Girls' teams with Cedar Stars Academy beginning in 2016 and then later with the Red Bulls in 2017.  From August 2016 to April of 2017 she served as a Graduate Assistant at Wagner College, where she helped plan practice sessions and organized game day operations and away game accommodations and travel.  For Bruno, there is no question that the eclectic mix of coaching stops gave her the itch to charge her own program, and CSI proved a great fit.

"Being with and coaching groups of all ages certainly makes me appreciate the college game," she said.  "The intensity and the commitment level at the collegiate level is much greater and I find it easier to work with student-athletes of this caliber and who want to leave it all on the field each day.  The experience of being at Wagner and being involved with professional organizations reinforced my beliefs that in order to be successful it takes the right mindset and commitment level.  When you get to a point where all of the players are playing at an elite level, that becomes the difference."

A graduate of UMass - Amherst with a Bachelor's Degree in Sports Management & Finance, Bruno achieved her MBA in Marketing at Wagner College.  The Staten Island native has made it clear what her intentions are when building the CSI women's program.

"My expectations are very high," stated Bruno.  "I expect the commitment and the mindset of our students and coaches to be focused on being a winning soccer program at all times.  On the short term we want to change the environment and that mindset, setting the building blocks in place so that when we are out of the provisional period we are ready to be a high-level program that is ready to compete in the ECC postseason."  

Alongside her duties as head coach, Bruno will also be charged with all equipment duties for the Athletics program, which includes disbursement and retrieval, uniform branding and design efforts, order tracking, inventory, and processing.  She will also supervise equipment transactions in the Sports & Recreation Center's Issue Room and supervise the facility during morning hours.

The CSI Women's Soccer team is coming off of a 6-7-1 campaign, their first as a provisional NCAA Division II member.  The program had tremendous success within the CUNYAC prior to ECC entry which will occur fully in 2020.  CSI had won four-straight CUNYAC Championships from 2015-18, and had not lost a conference game in the regular season since 2016.  The team will continue with a spring non-traditional segment in 2020 before a full Division II integration next year.