On August 8th, 2023, Rob Berkowitz announced that he has stepped down as head coach of the ESU men's and women's soccer programs and will assume the role of volunteer assistant coach for both teams. Berkowitz, the all-time wins leader for the women's soccer program totaled a record of 182-95-30, leading ESU to four of its six PSAC Championships, including seven NCAA Tournament trips and an NCAA Atlantic Region Championship in 2015. 

Rob Berkowitz concluded his 15th season as ESU’s head women’s soccer coach in and his 11th at the helm of the men's program in 2022.

Berkowitz has led the women's program to seven NCAA Division II Tournament appearances (2008, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019), including the 2015 Atlantic Region title - the first in school history. He is a two-time selection as the NSCAA DII Atlantic Region Coach of the Year (2014, 2017) and a two-time PSAC Coach of the Year (2007, 2014).

He guided the Warriors to a 9-7-3 record in 2022. The Warriors handed eventual national runner-up West Chester its first non-winning result, with a 1-1 draw in the regular-season finale. Three Warriors earned All-PSAC East recognition in Rebecca Kotual (1st Team),  Brienn Seaman (1st) and Teagan Marshall (2nd). Kotula was also named to the D2CCA and United Soccer Coaches Atlantic Region First Team after tying for second in the conference in goals with led the PSAC East with 23 total points. 

In 2021, Haley Skove, Mirthe Bos and Mauri Jackson were selected to All-PSAC East squads. In addition to GK Jackson's all-conference honor, she was named to the United Soccer Coaches All-Atlantic Region Team. ESU posted a winning season for the 10th consecutive season, totaling a record of 10-7-1 and 8-7-1 against PSAC East competition. In hopes of making a late run into the PSAC Tournament, ESU closed the 2021 season strong with wins in five of its final six contests and outscored the opposition, 11-1, in that span. Skove became the second player under Berkowitz and fifth Warrior overall to be named to the all-conference team during all four seasons. 

Berkowitz guided the Warriors to a 14-7 overall record (12-4 PSAC) during the 2019 campaign, as they earned the No. 3 seed in the PSAC East. They posted a dramatic overtime win against Millersville in the PSAC Quarterfinals before falling at Slippery Rock in the Semifinals. Despite the setback in the conference tournament, ESU earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. In 2019, five Warriors earned PSAC East All-Conference honors, and Melissa Herrera was named the PSAC East Freshman of the Year, becoming the third player in program history to garner the award. Haley Skove earned United Soccer Coaches All-American honors, D2CCA All-Atlantic Region honors, and she was joined by Syd Hicks in earning United Soccer Coaches All-Region honors. Monica Wood became the fourth CoSIDA Academic All-America selection in program history, and Lynsy Gruwell was honored as the PSAC Women's Soccer Champion Scholar, marking the fourth-straight year an ESU player has received the accolade.

ESU finished 2018 with a record of 15-7-1 (11-4-1 PSAC). Entering the PSAC tournament as the No. 7 seed, the Warriors upset nationally-ranked Kutztown (2-0) and Millersville (3-2, 2OT) to earn a spot in the PSAC Championship game for the fifth-straight season. The Warriors dropped a tight 2-1 decision at Bloomsburg in the conference final, but were selected with an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, where they topped Millersville in the opening round. The victory was the fifth NCAA Tournament win for ESU in as many years.Four players earned All-PSAC status, three were named United Soccer Coaches All-Region, and senior Nicole Abbott became the third CoSIDA Academic All-America selection in program history. Abbott and her twin sister, Carly, were also recognized as co-PSAC Champion Scholars.

Berkowitz led ESU to a historic stretch of four-straight PSAC championships from 2014-17. No other PSAC school has accomplished that feat in women’s soccer, and the Warriors lead the conference with six titles overall since the first championship was awarded in 1994.

Berkowitz, who is also the head coach of the ESU’s men's soccer program, added a PSAC men’s title in 2017. He joined former ESU head coach Jerry Sheska (1994) as the only coaches to lead both soccer teams to PSAC championships in the same season. ESU completed the fourth "double" in men's and women's soccer in conference history - Warriors teams also won both titles in 1994 and 1997, and Slippery Rock achieved the feat in 2005.

ESU's 2014 team completed a historic 20-1-1 campaign, including 20 consecutive victories, and won their first-ever PSAC regular season title. The Warriors set or tied 12 program records, including: wins (20), winning percentage (.932), winning streak (20), unbeaten streak (21), consecutive PSAC wins (15), consecutive home wins (11), consecutive away wins (9), shutouts (13), goals against (11), consecutive shutouts (5), consecutive PSAC shutouts (5) and scoreless streak (470:53, longest since at least 2003).

The 2015 squad posted a 14-7-2 record, repeating as PSAC Tournament champions and then advancing through the Atlantic Regional to earn ESU's first-ever women's soccer regional title with a 2-0 win vs. Edinboro.

In 2016, ESU finished 16-5-2, winning its third straight PSAC title and reaching the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the third consecutive season.

The 2017 squad went 15-4-4, captured its record-setting fourth straight PSAC championship, and reached the Atlantic Region final for the second time in three years, this time finishing runner-up to West Chester.

The Warriors have qualified for the PSAC Tournament in 11 of his 15 seasons and advanced to the semifinals nine times, including four championships. Berkowitz guided the team to the Division II tournament for the first time in 11 years in 2008, and ESU earned its first-ever win on the national stage that season with a 4-0 victory over West Virginia Wesleyan.

The Warriors have won PSAC championships as the No. 1 seed in 2014, No. 7 seed in 2015, No. 4 seed in 2016 and No. 3 seed in 2017 - posting a 10-0-2 record and advancing twice on penalty kicks.

The Warriors have advanced in 25 of their 38 postseason games overall under Berkowitz.

Along with their championship and NCAA Tournament runs, ESU was one of seven schools in DII to be ranked in the final NSCAA poll in every year from 2014-17 - No. 14 in 2014, No. 9 (highest in school history) in 2015, No. 20 in 2016 and No. 14 in 2017.

In regular season polls, the Warriors have been ranked for at least one week in 10 of Berkowitz's 15 seasons. They were listed No. 2 in the final regular season poll in 2014, the highest in school history. They were ranked as high as No. 3 midway through the 2016 season.

About Coach Berkowitz

Berkowitz was named the third head coach of the women's soccer program in April 2007 after spending seven years at Gardner-Webb University in Boiling Springs, N.C. He was promoted to associate head coach in the summer of 2004, a position that he held for his final three seasons.

A native of Wantagh, N.Y., Berkowitz also served as the recruiting coordinator and the goalkeepers coach for the Runnin' Bulldogs Division I program.

Gardner-Webb's goalkeepers flourished under Berkowitz, as Hilary George and Edie Hering both finished their careers among the top three in career shutouts in the school record books. In 2001, George earned NSCAA All-America and All-Tournament honors after setting school records with 7.5 shutouts and a 0.81 goals against average.

Berkowitz was an assistant men's soccer coach at Averett University, a Division III institution in Danville, Va., from 1998-2000. He has also been the goalkeepers coach for the Gardner-Webb men's team, the head coach of the Greater Cleveland County Soccer Association U-18 Boys' Premier Team, and the director of coaching for GCCSA goalkeepers.

A 1997 graduate of LIU Southampton College, Berkowitz was a three-year starter for the nationally-ranked squad and was a team captain during his junior and senior seasons. He set school records for career wins and shutouts during his college career, and helped the Colonials to ECAC championships in 1994 and 1995. He also earned the Southampton College Scholar-Athlete Award as a senior. Berkowitz was a graduate assistant coach at LIU Southampton for the 1997 season.

Berkowitz graduated cum laude with departmental honors with a bachelor of science degree in Business Administration and Sports Marketing from LIU Southampton College, and holds a Master's degree in Business Administration from Gardner-Webb University, which he earned in August 2006. He has also completed credit hours towards a Master's of Arts in Teaching from Averett University.

15 Years •  Career Record: 182-95-30 •  4 PSAC Titles •  7 NCAA Playoff appearances  •  2015 Atlantic Region champions  •  2017 Atlantic Region runner-up

Rob Berkowitz By the Numbers

• 182-95-30 record in 15 seasons as women's head coach

• 4 PSAC tournament championships (2014-17)

• 1 NCAA Division II Atlantic Region championship (2015)

• 1 NCAA DII Atlantic Region runner-up (2017)

• 7 NCAA Tournament appearances (2008, 14-19)

• 1 PSAC regular season championship (2014 - 1st in school history)

• 11 PSAC playoff appearances (2007-09, 12, 14-19, 2022)

• 9 PSAC semifinal appearances (2007-08, 12, 14-19)

• 1st NCAA tournament win in school history (2008, 4-0 vs. WV Wesleyan)

• 20-game winning streak in 2014 (2nd-longest in PSAC history)

• 22-game unbeaten streak spanning 2014-15 (last 21 games of 2014, first game of 2015 - 2nd-longest in PSAC history)

• 2014 NSCAA DII Atlantic Region Coach of the Year

• 2017 NSCAA DII Atlantic Region Coaching Staff of the Year

• 2-time PSAC Coach of the Year (2007, 2014)

• 6 All-America selections (B Lexie Peveraro - 2014; B Lauren Neira - 2014; M Shea Neal - 2014, 2016; B Hannah Gombos - 2016; GK Jules Harris - 2017; M Haley Skove - 2019)

• 31 United Soccer Coaches (NSCAA) All-Region overall selections

• 30 D2CCA All-Region overall selections

• 2 4-time All-Region selections (M Shea Neal - 2013-16; GK Jules Harris - 2014-17)

• 5 3-time All-Region selections (B Carly Collins - 2009, 11-12; B Laurel Neira - 2014-16; M Sammi Ortiz - 2015-17; F Alex Pickett – 2016-18; M Haley Skove 2017-19)

• 60 All-PSAC selections

• 2 4-time All-PSAC selection (M Shea Neal - 2013-16, Mauri Jackson - 2017-19, 2021)

• 1 3-time 1st team All-PSAC selection (M Shea Neal - 2013-14, 16)

• 4 2-time 1st team All-PSAC selections (F Lynda Hicks - 2007-08; B Carly Collins - 2009, 12; M Sammi Ortiz - 2016-17; GK Jules Harris - 2016-17)

• 5 Academic All-America (Hannah Gombos, Andrea Polanco – 2016; Nicole Abbott – 2018; Monica Wood – 2019; Rebecca Kotula – 2022)

• 1 PSAC Top 10 (Lindsay Foder - 2009, 2010)

• 4 PSAC Champion Scholars (Andrea Polanco 2016; Nicole Abbott 2017, 2018; Carly Abbott 2018; Lynsy Gruwell 2019)

• 18 Academic All-District selections (13 individual players)