Karen Perron completed her fourth year as head coach of the Union College women's soccer team in 2023.

After missing the 2020 season due to the pandemic, she guided Union to a 9-8-2 record and a third-place finish in the very competitive Liberty League in 2021, marking the most wins by a first-year coach in program history. The team hosted its first conference tournament game since 2006 and reached the semifinals with a thrilling overtime victory in the first round. 

Perron came to Schenectady from Nichols College, where she served three seasons as the head coach of the women’s soccer program. She guided the Bison to 19 wins in her three years and recruited 27 student-athletes to Nichols during that three-year stretch. Her efforts began to show results with a 10-9-0 record during the 2019 season, marking the most wins in a season for the program in a decade. The 2019 team ranked second all-time at the school with seven shutouts and got off to the best eight-game start (7-1-0) in program history as well.

In October 2019, Perron was named to United Soccer Coaches’ 30 Under 30 program, one of only six collegiate head coaches to earn the honor. She also has earned her USC/NSCAA National Diploma and has been a member of the USC D-III New England Regional Ranking Committee for the last two seasons as well.

In addition to her time with the soccer team, she served as an advisor to the Nichols Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and also was the Athletic Department’s community service liaison.

Previously, Perron spent one season as the head women’s soccer coach at Newbury College in 2016 and also has spent time as an assistant coach on the Division I staffs at Colgate University (2014) and the University at Albany (2015).

Perron played four seasons collegiately at the University of Connecticut from 2008-12, serving as a four-year starter on defense for the Huskies. She played in 83 matches with 75 starts in her four seasons in Storrs and was a four-year member of the BIG EAST All-Academic Team. As a senior, she served as team co-captain and was selected to play in the 2012 NEWISA Senior Bowl.

She graduated from UConn in 2012 as a psychology and anthropology double major. She also attended Durham University in the United Kingdom, where she earned a postgraduate diploma in Further Professional Studies in Education in 2014. While across the pond, she served as a graduate assistant with the women’s football first and second teams at Durham. 

Coaching Highlights: 

- One Liberty League Second Team

- Two Liberty League Honorable Mention

- United States Coaches Team Academic Award (2019, 2020, 2021)

- Presidential Award for Academic Achievement (2021)

- 18 Liberty League All-Academic Selections