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Tusculum University

Tusculum Athletic Department
 60 Shiloh Road Greeneville, TN 37743
Division 2 Tennessee Southeast
Private Small National competitor
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Coaches

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Vanessa Fyffe

Vanessa Fyffe was promoted to head women's soccer coach following the 2022 season, following the retirement of Mike Joy after 26 years as head coach of the Pioneers.


Fyffe returned to Tusculum in the summer of 2020 after spending the previous two seasons as assistant coach at the University of Louisiana Monroe under former Pioneer assistant Keyton Wheelock. While at ULM, Fyffe coached goalkeepers and was heavily involved in recruiting, video breakdown and technical field sessions for the Warhawks, a member of the Division I Sun Belt Conference.


During her first coaching stint at Tusculum from 2013 through 2017, Fyffe helped coach the Pioneers to the 2016 South Atlantic Conference regular-season championship and five SAC Championship tournament appearances, including two trips to the semifinals. She also coached 13 players who received postseason All-Conference honors, while also overseeing the junior varsity program. Two of her goalies, Marissa Williams and Miriah Martin, earned All-SAC honors during Fyffe's first tenure with the Pioneers.


A native of Bellbrook, Ohio, she earned a bachelor of arts degree in sport management with a minor in coaching from Tusculum in 2010. In her playing career, she played 22 games and compiled a 9-6-1 record with a 1.18 goals against average. Her career goals against average ranks as the eighth-best in program history.


As a junior, Fyffe started 16 matches and finished with 61 saves and a 1.26 goals against average spanning 1,355 minutes of playing time. That year, Fyffe was in goal when the Pioneers upset seventh-ranked Columbus State by a 2-1 score in Greeneville to win the Southeast Region championship and advance to the Elite Eight. She was a member of three Tusculum teams that appeared in the NCAA Division II Tournament, including a Sweet 16 appearance in her senior season, and was a member of the SAC Commissioner Honor Roll and Tusculum Athletic Director's Honor Roll.


Fyffe returned to Tusculum in 2013 after three seasons as an assistant coach at Division III Moravian College in Bethlehem, Pa., where she worked with the Greyhound goalkeepers. She also assisted in practice planning, recruiting, fundraising and off-season workouts during her time at Moravian. At Moravian, the Greyhounds made three straight appearances in the Landmark Conference Tournament, twice in the league semifinals along with one berth in the championship match.


Fyffe has also gained valuable coaching experience through her work with the Joy of Soccer Camp held each summer at Tusculum, along with the Mommy and Me Soccer Program for youth in the Bethlehem area. Fyffe has also been involved with Play for the Cure to raise money for the Susan G. Komen Foundation and is active with the Greene County YMCA youth soccer program.


She received a United Soccer Coaches National Diploma in 2017, along with regional and state goaltending diplomas. Fyffe, who was a licensed FIFA referee for 10 years, earned her masters of business administration degree from Moravian in 2012.

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Sean Strickland

Sean Strickland was named assistant coach for the Tusculum women's soccer program in the summer of 2023.


Strickland was an assistant women's coach at Lincoln Memorial University during the 2022 season, and was also an assistant coach at MacMurray College during the 2018 and 2019 seasons.


He played college soccer at Harper College in Palatine, Illinois and one season of third-tier professional soccer in Germany. Strickland also coached at the high school level in the Chicago area while earning a bachelor of science degree in sport management from Southern New Hampshire University in 2019.


Strickland also received a masters degree in sport management from SNHU in the fall of 2021.

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Gabby Lancaster

Gabby Lancaster joined the Tusculum University women's soccer program as a graduate assistant coach for the 2023 season.


Lancaster came to Tusculum from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, where she was a four-year member of the women's soccer program from 2019-22. During her career, Lancaster played in 58 matches, making 15 starts, with four goals and five assists for 11 points. Lancaster had three goals and three assists during her senior season in 2022, while helping the Mountain Lions to the second round of the NCAA Division II Tournament. UCCS made three NCAA appearances during Lancaster's career and won three Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference championships.


The Las Vegas, Nevada native earned a bachelor of science in business with a marketing emphasis from UCCS in May, 2023.

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