Thursday, March 9, 2023
by Northwest Nazarene Athletic Communications

NAMPA, Idaho – Northwest Nazarene head men’s soccer coach John Powell has announced that he will not be returning as head coach of the Nighthawks for the 2023 season.

Powell will be stepping down from NNU to take the head coaching position at his alma mater, Stanislaus State. When Powell departs, assistant coach Julio Castillo will step in as interim head coach.

Powell was only at Northwest Nazarene for two seasons, but his impact on the Nighthawks’ men’s soccer program was immense. In his first year at the helm in the fall of 2021, Powell led NNU to an 8-8 overall mark and 5-5 GNAC record, capping the year with a 1-0 win over No. 22 Seattle Pacific. NNU had four players earn All-GNAC honors that year, including Lukas Juodkunaitis as the Freshman of the Year. Lorenzo Valentini, a first team all-conference selection, also earned United Soccer Coaches All-Region honors and CoSIDA Academic All-American honors.

This past season, in 2022, Powell led the Nighthawks to the best season in program history, going 15-4-3 overall and 9-2-1 in GNAC play. The Nighthawks won the GNAC championship and won three NCAA Championships matches to make it all the way to the NCAA Super Region 4 final. NNU earned a program-record nine All-GNAC honors, including Powell as the Coach of the Year and Nestor Serrano as the Newcomer of the Year. Four different players received All-Region honors, including consensus First Team pick Valentini who, along with teammate Sawyer Price, was also named an Academic All-American.

During the season, NNU was ranked in the United Soccer Coaches Top-25 once at No. 22 before finishing the season sixth in the nation following their deep postseason run. The Nighthawks also set a new program record for wins in a season in 2022 with 15, eclipsing the mark of 14 set by the 2014 team, the only other group in program history to reach the NCAA postseason. NNU was extremely resilient all season, never going two games in a row without out a win as they followed up every loss or draw with a victory.