Palm Beach North Sports - September 2023

S e p t e m b e r 2 0 2 3 | P A L M B E A C H N O R T H SPORTS 5 The Dunny Way By Keiser Athletics | Photos courtesy of Keiser Athletics SPORTS SPOTLIGHT After 20 years total at Keiser/Northwood and two NAIA national championship victories, it isn’t surprising that Keiser women’s soccer head coach Mat Dunn feels a personal connection to his program. "I’ve been here for 13 years as a head coach," said Dunn. "Four years as a player and three years as an assistant, so really 20 years. This (Keiser) is home to me and very personal. Winning and remaining a staple in NAIA soccer is personal to me." Keiser University is indeed home to Dunn in more ways than one. As a member of the then- Northwood Men's soccer team, he won a Sun Conference Championship in 2006 and received his master's degree from Keiser. Since 2011, Keiser women’s soccer has risen to the top of the mountain at the conference and national levels. Since Dunn took over as head coach of KU women's soccer, the Seahawks have won 214 games and won back- to-back national championships in 2019 and 2020. During those championship seasons, Dunn was named NAIA Coach of the Year. Dunn's Seahawks have also taken home six Sun Conference tournament titles, 11 regular season titles, and 49 NAIA All-America honors. Maja Henriksson and Kyoka "Kiki" Koshijima went back-to-back as Sun Conference Player of the Year in 2021 and 2022, respectively. The Seahawks have been successful off the pitch as well, with 43 academic All-Americans. During the Dunn era, the Seahawks have displayed remarkable consistency. Mat Dunn-coached teams have dominated the Sun Conference, never finishing lower than 2nd in the conference, and Keiser has never lost more than one conference game in a single season. Coach Dunn currently holds a .847 winning percentage all-time, good for first in the NAIA among coaches with 200 wins. Last fall, the Seahawks were undefeated at home and on the road and finished the regular season undefeated. Keiser posted the eighth-longest unbeaten streak in NAIA history at 23 games. However, this consistency brings its own challenges. KU’s reputation precedes it, and the Seahawks can count on every opponent bringing their best effort and game plan to each match. Additionally, the Seahawks consistently play a daunting regular season schedule, holding an 11-3-2 record versus ranked opponents since 2019. "Every year is different with different players and different challenges, but I want the outcome to be the same every year. This program is like a child to me, and I want us to stay at the top." The Seahawks have in fact stayed at the top, having been ranked in the top-25 nationally since September of 2011 and in the top-5 since March of 2021. Following a season that saw Keiser dominate once again, advancing to the NAIA National Semifinal, Dunn is preparing for this fall’s campaign with the same mindset as years before. "We often say, work hard and the rest will fall into place," explained Dunn. "We’ve had great success recently but came up short of our ultimate goal last season even though we had a very talented and complete team. We have a lot of new faces this season, and I am looking forward to our new generation of players building something new and starting their own legacy." If this season resembles the consistency of years before, Keiser fans can expect Keiser’s dominance on the field to continue for many seasons to come.