UGA soccer head coach Billy Lesesne announced on Thursday, January 22 the addition of three new assistants to complete his staff. Brian Moore and Katie Ely were named as assistant coaches and Enrique Rodriguez was added as a volunteer coach.

“I’m really excited about having all three of these new coaches here,” Lesesne said. “Brian Moore brings a wealth of experience from the club game and has over 20 years of experience with Georgia youth soccer. He’s trained the best players at the youth level and it’s exciting to have him work with a full team at this level. He’s a good coach and he’s developed good players at a really high level. He’s a very accomplished tactician and is very innovative in some of the things he does offensively. I have a strong relationship with Kate Ely having worked with her for two years at Duke. I’ve seen her work with the goalkeepers there and she helped build a team that made it to the National Championship game. She also has some extensive knowledge in the SEC having served at Missouri for two years. Bringing in some familiarity with the programs in this league is also going to be very helpful.”

Moore joins the UGA staff after spending 23 years in Georgia youth soccer leagues holding a variety of different coaching positions. Most recently, Moore served as the Concorde Fire ECNL Director while also serving on the ECNL Board of Directors as the Southeast Conference Chairperson. Brian is still a U.S. Soccer National Training Center coach.

Moore has served the South Program Director and ECNL Director of the Concorde Fire Youth Soccer Club in Atlanta since 2005. Moore was responsible for establishing the club’s involvement in the ECNL and was named the ECNL Director in 2009. He coached four state championship teams and won two Region Titles, three Premier League East Titles and earned a berth in the 2011 Southern Regional and ECNL National Semifinals.

Since 2002, Moore has coached 13 Georgia Youth Soccer state championship teams, 10 USYSA Georgia Youth Soccer state runner-ups, three USYS Southern Regional Championship teams, one USYSA national runner-up in 2002, and one USYSA National Championship team (U19 in 2003). He has coached 18 US Soccer Youth Women’s National Team players, two of which appeared in the 2012 U17 World Cup. He also coached 2012 Olympic Gold Medalist and 2009 NCAA Hermann Trophy Winner Kelley O’Hara.

Moore played collegiately at Maryville College where he was a two-time team captain in 1989 and 1990, earning NCAA Division III All-South first team honors in 1990. Moore earned his degree in Business Administration from Maryville in 1991 and then went on to play semi-professionally in the USISL for the Atlanta Magic and was named the Final Four MVP of the 1993 USISL Indoor National Championships.

Moore also played professionally for the Dayton Dynamo and the Cincinnati Silverbacks NPSL indoor teams from 1995-96 and was the third leading scorer for the professional outdoor A-League Atlanta Ruckus from 1995-96 the year that the A-League was the top league in the US (MLS started in 1996). He holds a USSF “A” License.

Ely comes to UGA after spending two seasons with the Missouri program where she served as an assistant coach to 19-year veteran Bryan Blitz. Ely worked primarily with the Tigers’ goalkeepers while in Columbia, helping McKenzie Sauerwein set a school record in saves in 2013. Sauerwein recorded six shutouts in 2014, helping the Tigers advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament and a 12-7-3 record.

Prior to joining the Missouri staff, Ely spent two seasons as the goalkeeper coach at Duke where she worked on the same staff as then associate head coach Billy Lesesne. While at Duke, Ely helped the Blue Devils reach the 2011 and 2012 NCAA College Cup. The Blue Devil goalkeepers also set single season records in shutouts (16) and goals against average (0.48) under Ely’s direction.

Ely spent four seasons as an assistant coach at Syracuse before joining Missouri’s staff. While with the Orange, she coached goalkeepers who set the school’s career saves and shutouts records and earned All-Big East Rookie Team honors.

Ely graduated from Fairfield (Conn.) University in 2007, where she helped the Stags win the MAAC regular season title in 2002 and the MAAC Tournament title in 2007. She ranks first in school history in saves average, fifth in saves and sixth in wins, shutouts and goals against average.

Rodriguez was added to the staff as a volunteer assistant coach after serving as the assistant coach for the women’s team at The Citadel since 2008. Rodriguez was the international recruit coordinator and goalkeeper coach for the Bulldogs. He also served as the head coach of the men’s club soccer team from 2010-14 while at the Citadel.

Rodriguez also has extensive career on the prep level, serving as the head coach of the men’s varsity teams at the Porter Gaud and Pinewood Preparatory Schools in Charleston, South Carolina, finishing as the state runner-up for three consecutive seasons at Pinewood from 2011-13.

Rodriguez earned his degree in Architecture from La Salle University at the Bogota campus in Colombia in 2000. Rodriguez played collegiately while studying in Bogota, where La Salle reached the College Tournament finals in 2000.