Chris Ducar - Women's Soccer Coach - University of North Carolina Athletics

Chris Ducar

Title:
Assistant Coach/General Manager
Email:
ducar@uncaa.unc.edu
Phone:
919-962-4100

The upcoming 2026 season marks Chris Ducar’s 30th season as a member of the University of North Carolina women's soccer program.

In 2024, Ducar was part of the UNC women’s soccer coaching staff that captured the program’s 23rd NCAA national championship (first since 2012), defeating Wake Forest 1-0 in the title game. This marked Ducar’s 10th overall national championship with UNC. The staff — led by head coach Damon Nahas, with assistants Chris Ducar and Tracey Bates Leone — was subsequently named the 2024 United Soccer Coaches NCAA Division I Women’s National Coaching Staff of the Year.

As goalkeeper coach, Ducar worked directly with graduate transfer Clare Gagne, who started all 27 matches and anchored the defense during the championship run. Gagne earned NCAA College Cup Most Outstanding Defensive Player honors (the first UNC goalkeeper to win the award since Siri Mullinix in 1997), was named to the NCAA College Cup All-Tournament Team, posted 13 shutouts (leading the ACC), and conceded just one goal across six NCAA Tournament games, including back-to-back shutouts in the College Cup.
Ducar has continued developing elite goalkeepers in his dual role. Former Tar Heel Claudia Dickey, whom Ducar coached during her collegiate career, has become a mainstay with the U.S. Women’s National Team. As of 2026, Dickey has earned multiple caps, serves as a key goalkeeper for the Seattle Reign FC in the NWSL, and is competing for a starting role ahead of the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

Ducar’s experience as an assistant coach and recruiter was recognized at the conclusion of the 2006 season when he was named the national assistant coach of the year by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA). He also won the same assistant coach of the year award for the NSCAA’s South Region that season as well as Carolina concluded a 27-1 season and captured the 2006 ACC and NCAA championships.

In 2018, the Tar Heels advanced to the NCAA championship game and the UNC staff was named the outstanding coaching staff in the NSCAA’s South Region. Starting goalkeeper Samantha Leshnak set a Tar Heel record for successive scoreless minutes played in goal that had stood for three decades. Previously with junior Samantha Leshnak playing every minute in goal in 2017 the Tar Heels returned the ACC Tournament championship to Chapel Hill for the first time since 2009 as UNC allowed only 12 goals all season.

During his two plus decades in Chapel Hill, Ducar has proven to be both a tremendous game and practice coach as well as a fantastic recruiter. His work ethic is a key factor in Carolina’s consistent success in an era of overwhelming parity in the college game.

Ducar’s recruiting prowess is well known in the college game as he has consistently brought in classes ranked in the top 10 in the nation. Top Drawer Soccer recognized UNC’s Class of 2013 group as the nation’s best and those players keyed UNC to a national championship in 2012. The Tar Heel freshmen who enrolled in the fall of 2016 were recognized as the nation’s third-ranked recruiting class by Top Drawer Soccer and the fall 2018 freshman class was again recognized as one of the nation’s best by Top Drawer Soccer, ranking third overall with just five incoming players. TDS recognized the freshmen in the fall of 2019 as the nation’s third best class again.

During his long coaching tenure at Chapel Hill, Ducar has helped lead Carolina to NCAA championships in 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2008, 2009 and 2012 and to ACC Tournament championships in 14 years as well, most recently in 2017. Carolina has finished atop the ACC regular-season standings 15 times during his coaching tenure, most recently in 2018.

In 2016, Ducar mentored Lindsey Harris to a school record save total of 96, breaking a mark which had stood since 1980. Harris’ play as a redshirt senior was a key element in UNC’s advancement to the ACC Tournament finals and the NCAA Tournament semifinals.

A member of the Olympic Development Program Staff in Regions I and III, Ducar is a National Clinician for the United States Youth Soccer Association and belongs to the National Soccer Coaches Association of America.

Ducar has been a mainstay in coaching U.S. women’s national teams in international events. He was the goalkeeper coach for the U21 National Team which won the 1999 Nordic Cup title in Iceland. Former UNC player Siri Mullinix was the championship keeper for the U.S. in that tournament, and she was the starter for the U.S. National Team in the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia when the Americans won silver.

Ducar served as goalkeeper coach for the 1998 U.S. U21 women’s national team which competed in the Nordic Cup. The United States won the silver medal in that competition. He also served as goalkeeper coach for the 1997 U.S. U21 national team that won the gold medal in the 1997 Nordic Cup in Denmark.

In addition to his duties as an assistant coach at UNC, Ducar also served as an assistant coach for the women’s team at UNCG from 1995-98 on a part-time basis before he became a full-time coach at Carolina in 1998. In 1995, he was the goalkeeper coach at Greensboro College. In 1990-91, he was an assistant coach at the University of California Santa Cruz.

During his time at Carolina, Ducar has tutored three first-team All-America goalkeepers in Siri Mullinix, Jenni Branam and Aly Winget. Mullinix was a three-year starter for UNC, and Branam and Winget were both four-year starting goalkeepers. Winget set the ACC records for solo shutouts in a season with 16 in 2003 and in a career with 35. In 2006, Anna Rodenbough nearly equaled Winget’s mark as she posted 15 solo shutouts in helping the Tar Heels win the NCAA championship. He did one of his best coaching jobs of his career in 2009 as senior Ashlyn Harris, a long-time member of the U.S. National Team and a 2015 and 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup champion, led Carolina to another national title as Carolina posted 19 shutouts and allowed a mere 0.44 goals per game against the nation’s toughest schedule. Harris was named first-team All-ACC as well as an Academic All-America. In 2011 and 2012, Ducar helped develop Yale transfer and walk-on Adelaide Gay into one of the most consistent goalkeepers in the college game. Gay was a first-team Academic All-America in 2011 and in 2012. She allowed only 0.62 goals per game as the Tar Heels won the national championship in 2012.

In the summer of 2000, Ducar served as the head coach for the North Carolina women’s state team that won the regional championship and advanced to compete in the Donnelly Cup national tournament over Thanksgiving weekend.

Ducar graduated from the University of Missouri in 1990 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science. He was a Dean’s List student there and went on to earn a teaching credential from San Jose State University in 1995.

Ducar played on the men’s club soccer team at the University of Missouri from 1986-90. Post-collegiately, he played for Inter A.C. in Fremont, Calif., helping the team claim the 1990 Premier Division title. He was also a member of the San Francisco Bay Blackhawks of the American Professional Soccer League (APSL) when they won the 1991 national championship. He played for the San Jose Oaks, the 1992 U.S. Open Cup champions.

Former national director for Soccer Plus Goalkeeper Schools in Connecticut, he spent much of his time traveling the United States organizing camps and clinics for Soccer Plus. He has also served as director of Go For Gold Soccer Schools, World Soccer and Santa Cruz Soccer Camps in California and for David Brcic’s Goalkeeper Schools in Missouri.

Ducar holds coaching licenses from the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (premier license) and the United States Soccer Federation (national “A” license). Ducar is on both the United States Soccer Federation and National Soccer Coaches Association of America National Goalkeeping Staffs.