Lowdon joins SHSU soccer staff
7/9/2015 12:40:00 PM | Soccer
Sarah Lowdon has been named assistant coach to the Sam Houston State soccer program, eighth-year head coach Tom Brown announced on Thursday.
The Newcastle, England, native comes to Sam Houston following one year as assistant coach at Wayland Baptist and prior two-year stint as volunteer assistant at McNeese State. She also currently serves as an intern assistant coach with professional soccer's Houston Dash.
“I am very happy to add Sarah to our staff,” Brown said. “She has an educational background in exercise science which was one of our main priorities in hiring for this position. She will be in charge of using the POLAR Heart Rate monitoring system that we use to monitor the training load of our players and provide input, along with our athletic trainer, concerning the preparation and recovery of our athletes.”
Lowdon is a National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) and served as an exercise science instructor at Wayland Baptist.
She logged a decorated three-year playing career with McNeese State after transferring from Mississippi State and earned her bachelor of science in education in December 2012. In May 2014, while serving as a volunteer coach with the Cowgirls, she received a master of science with a double concentration in exercise physiology and health promotion.
Lowdon appeared three times on the Southland Conference Commissioner's Academic Honor Roll and once on the Southeastern Conference Commissioner's Academic Honor Roll, after posting a perfect 4.0 GPA as a freshman.
“I would like to thank Coach Brown and Sam Houston State for this incredible opportunity,” Lowdon said. “I am honored to join Coach Brown's staff and continue the great tradition of women's soccer at SHSU. I look forward to working with the student-athletes and continuing to build upon the academic and athletic excellence that has already been established.”
In England, Lowdon played for Newcastle United Women's FC (2002-08) and Gateshead College Women's Football Academy (2006-08), where she was named Student-Athlete of the Year in 2008 and was inducted into the Gateshead Hall of Fame in 2014.
She also has played for the San Francisco Nighthawks of the Women's Premier Soccer League.
“Even as a young coach, she will be given lots of responsibility in our training sessions and in the office,” Brown said. “Sarah will be focused on getting the best from each of our players on a daily basis. From warming the team up and cooling them down after sessions, recovery, and conducting individual sessions for players returning from injury, her focus will be making sure we always have our best team on the field and not sitting on the sideline.”
Sam Houston will scrimmage Texas Southern on Aug. 14 at 6:30 p.m. from Pritchett Field before hitting the road to open its season on Aug. 21 at seven o'clock against Louisiana-Lafayette.
