Bobby Lessentine enters his fifth season as head coach of the UMSL women’s soccer program, where he owns a record of 24-38-5. In eight seasons as a head coach, he is 74-55-11 (.567).
After a 4-11-1 mark in his first season, Lessentine directed the 2011 squad to a 9-9 record, including an 8-7 GLVC mark, which earned UMSL a bid to the GLVC Tournament for the first time since 2008.
Lessentine arrived on the UMSL campus after spending four seasons as the head coach at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tenn. During his four seasons at Rhodes, Lessentine compiled a 50-17-8 (.720) record, coaching his teams to top-10 regional and top-25 national rankings in each year.
Lessentine’s most successful season came in 2008 when he guided the program to its first Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) championship in 17 years and earned the program’s first-ever berth to the NCAA Division III Tournament. For his efforts, Lessentine earned his second SCAC Coach of the Year award in four years and was also named the NSCAA Division III South Region Coach of the Year. The team finished with a 14-4-2 overall record and earned the highest rankings in program history of No. 2 in the South Region and No. 10 in the NSCAA/adidas poll.
In 2007, he guided Rhodes to an 11-6-2 record and a No. 17 ranking in the national poll.
In his second year at the helm of the program during the 2006 season, the Lynx posted a 14-3-2 record.
After recruiting his first class of players to Rhodes, Lessentine promptly led the program to their best record in a decade and was named the 2005 SCAC Coach of the Year. The Lynx finished tied for second in the conference en route to an overall record of 11-4-2 and returned to the NSCAA/adidas National Poll for the first time since 1995.
In his four seasons at Rhodes, Lessentine coached one NSCAA/adidas All-American (the first in program’s history), six NSCAA/adidas all-South Region selections, one SCAC Defensive Player of the Year, one SCAC Offensive Player of the Year, one SCAC Newcomer of the Year and 22 all-SCAC selections. His teams have also produced 55 SCAC Honor Roll recipients, four NSCAA/adidas team academic awards and one NSCAA/adidas Academic All-American.
Lessentine is a product of soccer in the Memphis area. He grew up playing for the Memphis Kickers, Rangers, and Memphis Futbol Club (MFC), and attended Kirby High School. He played and trained alongside former Major League Soccer (MLS) standouts Ross Paule (Columbus Crew), Carey Talley (Real Salt Lake), Richard Mulrooney (Houston Dynamo), Tony Kuhn (Chicago Fire), and Jonny Walker (NY/NJ Metrostars) while playing for MFC ‘76 under the direction of Richard Bute.
Lessentine graduated from Rhodes in 1998 with a degree in art and architecture studies. He played four seasons for the Lynx where he made three NCAA Tournament appearances, captaining the team to its first win in NCAA post-season play during his senior season in 1997. Lessentine was a three-time all-SCAC selection, a first team all-South Region selection, and was also named Most Valuable Player of the men's team during his senior year.
