Julie Cunningham Shackford ’88, a three-time All-American, national coach of the year and one of the most accomplished coaches in collegiate women’s soccer, enters her eighth full season as head coach of her alma mater in 2026. She was named the third head coach in William & Mary women’s soccer history on Dec. 13, 2017.
Across more than 32 years as a collegiate head coach at William & Mary, Princeton and Carnegie Mellon, Shackford has built championship programs, developed national-team and professional players and established a career defined by competitive excellence, leadership and student-athlete development. She owns a career record of 291-198-57 through the 2025 season.
Under Shackford’s leadership, William & Mary has advanced to the CAA Championship three times in the last four seasons. In 2025, the Tribe finished 7-7-4 overall and 5-2-2 in conference play. W&M allowed a league-low seven goals during conference play and posted a 7-2-1 record at Martin Family Stadium, the program’s most home victories since 2014.
The Tribe earned seven CAA postseason honors in 2025. Ellie Leffler was named CAA Rookie of the Year and joined Mia Abbey and Gwen Doughty on the CAA All-Rookie Team. Abbey also earned Third Team All-CAA recognition alongside Ivey Crain and Molly Widderich.
William & Mary has also continued to excel academically during Shackford’s tenure. Following the 2025 season, Nora Green-Orset, Leila Greene, Sheridan Brummett, Ivey Crain, Molly Widderich and Lindsay Wilson were selected to the College Sports Communicators Academic All-District Team.
Shackford has coached three major CAA award winners since returning to Williamsburg: CAA Goalkeeper of the Year Zoe Doughty in 2021 and CAA Rookie of the Year recipients Ivey Crain in 2022 and Ellie Leffler in 2025.
In 2023, Shackford guided the Tribe to its first CAA semifinal appearance since 2017. William & Mary finished 9-4-7 overall and 6-3-3 in conference play while completing an unbeaten nonconference schedule for the first time in program history. The season also produced program records for average attendance and single-game attendance at Martin Family Stadium.
The Tribe returned to the CAA Championship in 2022 after a five-year absence. Shackford recorded her 250th career victory during her first season back in Williamsburg when W&M defeated Drexel, 2-0, on Sept. 30, 2018.
Prior to returning to her alma mater, Shackford spent 20 seasons as head coach at Princeton from 1995-2014. She built the Tigers into a nationally recognized program and remains Princeton’s all-time leader with 203 victories. Her teams won six Ivy League championships, earned eight NCAA Tournament appearances and recorded at least 10 victories in 16 of her 20 seasons.
Shackford’s landmark 2004 Princeton team finished 19-3 and became the first Ivy League women’s soccer program to reach the NCAA College Cup semifinals. The Tigers defeated Central Connecticut State, Villanova, Boston College and Washington during their historic postseason run. Shackford was named the Division I National Coach of the Year and Soccer Buzz National Coach of the Year following the season.
During her Princeton tenure, Shackford coached seven Ivy League Players of the Year, 40 First-Team All-Ivy League selections and three United Soccer Coaches All-Americans. She also recruited and developed numerous national-team and professional players, including two-time Olympic medalist Diana Matheson. Every student-athlete who completed her playing career under Shackford at Princeton earned her degree.
Shackford was named the United Soccer Coaches Mid-Atlantic Region Coach of the Year in 2001, 2004 and 2012.
Before taking over at Princeton, Shackford founded the women’s soccer program at Carnegie Mellon and served as its head coach from 1990-95. She compiled a 42-21-3 record while establishing the foundation for what would become one of the nation’s leading NCAA Division III programs.
As a student-athlete at William & Mary from 1984-87, Shackford appeared in 68 matches and recorded 20 goals, nine assists and 49 points. She helped lead the Tribe to four consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances and earned All-America honors three times. She was inducted into the William & Mary Athletics Hall of Fame in 2001.
Shackford’s influence has extended beyond the collegiate game. She assisted with the U.S. U20 and U21 national team programs from 2000-02 and has served as a scout for the U.S. Women’s National Team. She was also a Region I Olympic Development Program staff coach from 1990-2000 and later worked as a director and coach with FC Virginia’s Development Academy.
Shackford holds a U.S. Soccer Federation “A” License and has served as a United Soccer Coaches diploma course instructor.
In addition to her William & Mary Athletics Hall of Fame induction, Shackford was inducted into the Virginia-D.C. Soccer Hall of Fame in 2011 and the Mercer County, New Jersey, Sports Hall of Fame in 2015. She received the Intercollegiate Soccer Officials Association of New Jersey’s Spirit of the Game Award in 2006.
A native of Burke, Virginia, Shackford earned her bachelor’s degree in government from William & Mary in 1988 and her master’s degree in public management from Carnegie Mellon in 1995. She is married to Erik Wilhelm, and they have five children.
