Sonia Curvelo is in her third season as the head women’s soccer coach at Cleveland State. Curvelo joined the Vikings after spending five seasons as the head coach at Mississippi Valley State.
Curvelo has led the Vikings to eight wins in each of her first two seasons as head coach. She has led CSU to the Horizon League tournament in each of her two years on the sideline, breaking a three-year absence for CSU in the tournament in 2014.
During her first season at the helm, the Vikings set single-season school records for most goals (28) and assists (22) and fewest goals allowed (18). The team also tied the school record with seven shutouts. Last year, the Vikings set a single game record with seven goals in a victory over Chicago State..
More importantly, the program has attained academic success with Curvelo at the helm, earning the “Best of the Best” Award in the spring of 2015 for having the highest grade point average (3.63) among the 16 teams in the athletics department. That was slightly higher than the 3.60 GPA in 2013-14, which included three players who had a 4.0 and more than half of the roster posting a GPA of 3.75 or higher.
During her five seasons at MVSU, Curvelo advanced to the SWAC (Southwestern Athletic Conference) tournament all five years, leading the squad to the conference title and NCAA tournament bid in 2012 by winning three matches over a four-day stretch. The SWAC Coach of the Year in 2012, Curvelo also led her squad to the conference championship match in 2010 and 2011. She developed 12 players who earned All-SWAC honors, 14 players who were named to the SWAC all-tournament team, as well as the 2012 SWAC tournament MVP.
Curvelo’s teams have also had consistent success in the classroom with her 2011-12 squad completing the academic term with a 3.52 grade point average, the highest among the school’s 18 programs and tops among women’s soccer programs in the SWAC. In 2012-13, the women’s soccer team was tops among MVSU sports with a 3.59 GPA. She has produced a National Dean’s List Scholar, as well as an MVSU Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
Prior to arriving at MVSU, Curvelo served as an associate coach at Fanshawe College in Ontario, a player development coach at the SB9 Soccer Academy in Tampa, Fla., and a coach for the Rochester Rhinos Soccer Academy.
As a student-athlete at MVSU, Curvelo was one of the original members of the program and was instrumental in leading the team to the 2005 conference title and NCAA bid, assisting on the first goal and scoring the game-winner in the conference championship match. Curvelo was named the 2005 SWAC tournament MVP, leading MVSU to its first-ever NCAA tournament appearance.
The Strathroy, Ontario, native made a name for herself internationally, playing for the Portugal National Team that included her first international appearance against Wales in 2008. In addition, Curvelo signed her first professional contract with CF Puebla of the Women’s Spanish Super League in Spain. She also played for three teams in the USL W-League.
Curvelo is a member of the National Soccer Coaches Association, the United States Soccer Federation and the Alliance of Women Coaches. A graduate of the NCAA Women’s Coaches Academy, Curvelo also served as the SWAC soccer chairperson.
Curvelo earned her Bachelor’s of Science in Business Administration in 2007 from MVSU and earned her Master’s of Science in Sport Coaching Education in 2013 from Southern Mississippi.
