MVLA is pleased to welcome Jay as offical Goalkeepers coach for the club. Jay brings a long, rich history of coaching experience to help MVLA players.
Jay is the goalkeeper coach at Stanford University. Since he began his tenure in 2003, he has helped make Stanford goalkeepers’ performance among the best in the country: achieving the nation’s best goals-against average in 2004 (0.43), second-best in 2008 (0.32), and 10th-best in 2009 (0.57), and third-best in 2010 (0.45). He also helped develop Nicole Barnhart into a two-time All-America, Olympic gold medalist and national-team veteran.
Jay also coached goalkeepers for 2010 Women’s Professional Soccer champion FC Gold Pride, where he continued to work with Barnhart, the league’s Goalkeeper of the Year and a 2008 Olympic gold medalist. Cooney previously coached the goalkeepers for the San Jose CyberRays, the 2001 Women’s United Soccer Association champion. Under Cooney’s guidance, San Jose goalkeeper LaKeysia Beene was honored as the 2001 WUSA Goalkeeper of the Year.
Before coming to the South Bay, the Wellesley, Mass., native served as an assistant coach at the College of William & Mary and as assistant director of Soccer Plus, a goalkeepers’ school owned by Tony DiCicco, coach of the 1999 U.S. Women’s World Cup team.
In 1999, Cooney was an assistant coach at Providence College and for the Under-18 and U-19 Greater Boston Bolts, and practice goalkeeper for the A-League’s Boston Bulldogs. Previously, he was the head coach of the boys team at his alma mater, Wellesley (Mass.) High School (1993-98) and was the 1998 Bay State Coach of the Year.
Cooney’s mother, Marge, founded Wellesley United, a girls’ soccer club and was a huge influence and inspiration to her son.
Cooney and his wife, Greta, live in Menlo Park. The couple has two sons, Finn and Hayes.
