Ken Goodale returns for this 19th season as an assistant to 20th-year head coach Chris D'Ambrosio.
A native of nearby Coventry, Goodale has worked with D’Ambrosio for over 20 years in a variety of positions at the youth, developmental and high school levels. Goodale’s association with Eastern women’s soccer dates back to 1983, when he served as head coach of Eastern’s first-year club team, three years prior to its elevation to intercollegiate status. Goodale returned to the Eastern coaching staff as an assistant to D’Ambrosio in the fall of 2001 after spending the 1998 season as head women’s soccer coach at Manchester (Conn.) Community College.
An eighth-grade science teacher at Captain Nathan Hale School in Coventry before retiring in the summer of 2017, Goodale boosts a lengthy and varied coaching, administrative and playing resume. For the last 20 summers, he has owned and directed the Patriots’ Sports School in Coventry and also spent time as athletic director and girls’ soccer coach at Nathan Hale, head girls’ soccer coach at E.O. Smith High School in nearby Storrs, assistant varsity girls’ soccer coach under D’Ambrosio at Coventry High School, and head girls’ basketball and head baseball coach at Coventry and sub-varsity boys’ soccer coach at Tolland High School.
Goodale serves as assistant director of the Eastern Girls' Youth Soccer Camps each summer.
Goodale currently serves as head coach of the Northeast United U-14 and U-15 girls’ programs. Goodale’s previous experience also includes four years as head coach of the Eagle Elite U-15 Premier girls’ soccer team and two years as an assistant coach with the U-13 and U-14 teams in the Connecticut Girls’ Olympic Development Program.
A former All-New England defender at Manchester CC, Goodale went on to an eight-year playing career with Northeast United in the Connecticut Soccer League and later organized trips to Europe for Coventry’s Northeast United and U-16 Premier teams. Three summers ago, he directed a trip to Denmark and Germany.
Goodale holds an NSCAA Advanced National Diploma and a USSF “C” level license.
From Eastern, Goodale holds a B.S. Degree in Education and an M.S. Degree in Educational Technology.
Ken and Debbie Goodale reside in Coventry and have four children. Daughter, Hannah, was a four-year player and All-Little East Conference performer and LEC All-Academic qualifier for the Eastern soccer team.
