Kia McNeill
Kia McNeill
Kia was a three-sport athlete at Avon High earning varsity letters in soccer, basketball, and track and field. But she excelled on the soccer field, leading the Falcons to three Class M state championships (2001, 2002, 2003). Avon lost in the state finals in 2000, one of just two games that the Falcons lost during Kia’s career (72-2-4). She graduated with the most career goals in school history (93) and with a record 30 goals scored in a single season (2002), records that she still owns as she is inducted in 2022. Kia was a three-time All-State and All-New England player. She was named to the NSCAA All-American team as a junior and senior and was named Gatorade’s national player of the year in 2003. As a collegiate student-athlete, Kia played at Boston College from 2004-07, earning Big East Rookie of the Year accolades in 2004 and third team All-America honors as a senior. She made four straight appearances in the NCAA tournament, advancing as far as the Sweet 16, and garnered the ACC’s prestigious post-graduate scholarship, the James Weaver-Corrigan Award. She holds a bachelor’s degree in human development (2008) and an MBA in general management (2015) from Boston College. Kia played professional women’s soccer for six seasons (2008-14) both internationally and in the United States. She played a season each in both Sweden and Russia, then spent four seasons in the Women’s Professional Soccer League (WPS) and the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) in the U.S. She was the No. 9 pick in the inaugural WPS draft in 2009 and won a WPS title with Philadelphia in 2011. She finished her career with the Boston Breakers of the NWSL in 2013 -14. Kia has been the head coach at Brown University for the last six seasons, leading the Bears to Ivy League titles and NCAA Div. I tournament berths in 2019 and 2022. The Bears were undefeated in conference play in 2019 (6-0-1), and 2021 (7-0) marking the Bears’ first undefeated conference seasons since 1994. Additionally in 2019 and 2021, McNeill received unanimous votes as the Ivy League Coach of the Year, was named New England Soccer Journal Coach of the Year, and she and her assistant coaches were voted the 2019 East Region Staff of the Year. In 2019, Brown set program records for wins in a season (14), home wins in a season (11), and shutouts in a season (13). McNeill was named Brown’s head women’s soccer coach on December 30, 2015. She came to Brown from Northeastern University where she was an assistant coach. Prior to Northeastern she was an assistant coach at Boston College, where she was also a standout student-athlete. As an assistant coach at Northeastern in the 2014 and 2015 seasons and at Boston College in 2009 and the 2011-13 seasons, McNeill helped those two programs make five NCAA tournament appearances in six seasons, including an Elite Eight and three Sweet 16 appearances at BC. “As a player she was a leader and outstanding offensive player, leading her teams by her amazing skills and desire to be a better player every day,” said Jim Murray, who coached Kia at Avon High. “She had a great college and professional career as a defender and now has demonstrated that she is an outstanding college coach at Brown University. Kia is a role model for young girls both as a player and as a coach.”