J.P. Sousa enters his ninth season as head coach of the Catholic University women’s soccer team in 2012.  During that time he has led the Cardinals to two of the most successful seasons in school history.  Since taking over as head coach in 2004, Sousa has set the mark for winningest coach in school history with a 96-48-12 record and led the team to six post-season appearances in the past seven seasons.

In 2011, Sousa guided CUA to its third Landmark Conference championship match in the last four seasons.  The Cardinals finished the year with a 12-7 overall record, marking the seventh time under Sousa they have won at least 10 matches.  Four student-athletes were named All-Conference and two received All-Region accolades. 

Off the field, eight Cardinals were named to the Landmark Conference Academic Honor Roll, and senior Caitlin Brett was honored with CUA’s Jone Dowd Student-Athlete Role Model Award, which is given annually to a student-athlete who exudes graciousness in victory, humility in defeat and rallies their peers to consistently compete at a high level in athletics and beyond.

The 2009 season was one for the ages for Sousa and the Cardinals as they won 17 matches, captured the Landmark Conference championship for the first time ever and earned a bid to the NCAA Tournament for the second time in five years.  In addition CUA was ranked #25 in the NSCAA Division III national poll following an unbeaten season on its home turf (10-0-1).  For their tremendous efforts, four Cardinals earned All-Landmark Conference honors, three were named ECAC All-Stars, two garnered All-Region accolades and Helene Nicoletti and Courtney Orgill were named the Landmark Defensive Player and Rookie of the Year, respectively.

Under Sousa’s direction in 2005, the Cardinals enjoyed their most successful season in school history with an 18-1-2 record. They completed an undefeated regular season, won the Capital Athletic Conference Championship, and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time ever. They placed a record seven players on the All-CAC teams and swept the post-season awards, including Sousa’s first Capital Athletic Conference Women’s Soccer Coach of the Year honor.

A standout forward for two years at Western Connecticut State University, after transferring to WCSU from George Mason University in 1996, Sousa went on to lead the team in scoring with six goals and 17 points his junior year and was ranked fifth in scoring in the Little East Conference. As a senior, Sousa tallied another six goals, leading his team to the ECAC New England Region Tournament, and was nominated for the Academic All-America team.

Sousa began coaching youth soccer in 1998 for Eastern FC of Greenwich and led their U13 boys team to the Connecticut state cup title and an appearance in the USYSA Region I Championships. Sousa then moved to Virginia where he coached U15 girls and U13 boys for Vienna Youth Soccer from 1999 to 2002. Since then, he has spent time training girls youth teams for the McLean and Chantilly soccer clubs, was an assistant coach for both the boys and girls varsity teams at Oakton High School from 2003 to 2006, was on the Northern District Virginia ODP coaching staff from 2004 to 2007, and coached Super Y League soccer for the Northern Virginia Majestics, assisting with the U17 team in 2008 and the U20 team in 2009.  Sousa also joined the coaching staff at DC United Women this past summer, primarily with the U20 reserve team that advanced to the USL Super20 North American Finals championship game in July.

Originally from Danbury, Conn., Sousa was a three-year starting varsity player at Danbury High School earning all-conference honors twice and all-area honors once. He led all area scorers with 22 goals and 11 assists as a senior in 1993. While Sousa played for Danbury, the team won three consecutive conference titles, was a state finalist in 1991, state semi-finalist in 1993, and ranked as high as #14 nationally in the NSCAA/USA Today poll. He also earned all-conference and all-state honors in track and field.

Sousa graduated from Western Connecticut State University in 1998 with a bachelor’s degree in political science, and earned his master’s degree in education for school counseling at George Mason University in 2006. He holds the Advanced Regional coaching diploma from the NSCAA and resides in Fairfax, Va., with his wife Suzanne and son Cameron.