Veteran soccer coach Peter Gaglioti begins his sixth year at the helm of the Knights with high expectations after making his mark last season with several program firsts. Gaglioti was selected as Coach of the Year by his peers after he guided the Knights to a program-best undefeated league record of 6-0-3, finishing first in the conference. Despite bowing out to Sacred Heart in the semifinals, the Knights were able to continue the momentum from 2003, when they took home a trophy for the program Gaglioti built from scratch and posted a program-record 10 wins. The Knights are prepared to rebound from their semifinal loss in the Northeast Conference Tournament and return to win it this season.
Fairleigh Dickinson ended 2003 with its first batch of four-year seniors taking the team to the ECAC Championship and walking away with a title, while three Knights were recognized by the conference.
In 2000, Gaglioti led a team of first-year varsity athletes onto the soccer field in the program's inaugural season, finishing 2-16-1 overall, and, in 2001, a large recruiting class combined with a solid core of returnees enabled the team to add five victories (5-11-0) in only their second season as a varsity squad. In 2002, Gaglioti and his team were prepared to seriously challenge the conference and gain an NEC Tournament berth for the first time in school history.
After the league's coaches tabbed his team to finish eighth among the NEC's 10 teams, Gaglioti knew the squad he'd spent the previous two years developing was underestimated and would exceed expectations.
His team took the field in late August, and after a rough start, broke nearly every record established over two seasons. The team produced the first winning season in history, with a then-program-best nine wins, and posted an impressive 7-2-1 conference record, good for second place in the league and a first-ever NEC Tournament berth, where they suffered an overtime loss in the semifinals.
His talented group of recruits earned three NEC Rookie of the Week awards in 2002 and four of his players were named to the All-NEC Second Team.
In addition to his teams' athletic success, his squads have excelled in the classroom. With a 3.14 combined GPA, the Knights were recipients of the NSCAA Team Academic Award in 2002, given to soccer teams whose combined GPA's exceed a 3.0 and have continued to prove themselves academically, winning the award for four straight years.
Fairleigh Dickinson named Gaglioti as the team's first head coach in September 1999. Gaglioti's return to Fairleigh Dickinson came six years after a stint as an assistant men's soccer coach on the Knights' 1993 Northeast Conference Championship team. Coach Gaglioti gives the Knights' women's soccer program credibility and a solid foundation with his experience as a successful coach and recruiter.
His coaching experience ranges from the club level to the professional ranks. In each of his coaching stops in New Jersey, Michigan and Canada, he has been a vital part of winning teams. After three state tournament appearances and back-to-back Bergen County titles with Don Bosco Prep (Ramsey, NJ), Gaglioti ventured into the collegiate ranks as an assistant coach at Rutgers University at Newark. After helping the Scarlet Raiders to a 1989 ECAC Tournament berth, he was rewarded in 1991 by being named the Scarlet Raiders' head coach, a position he held for two seasons.
In 1991 Gaglioti led the Suburban Soccer Club of Flanders, NJ to the Under 16 New Jersey State Cup title and to the finals at the United States Youth Soccer Association Region I Championship, Dallas Cup and Tampa Sun Bowl. He is a former member of the U.S.Y.S. Region II Olympic Development Program staff as well as the ODP staff in New Jersey and Michigan.
The next step for Gaglioti was the professional ranks with an opportunity north of the border in the Canadian National Soccer League. As general manager and head coach of the Windsor Wheels, Gaglioti guided his team into the finals of the CNSL Cup. Following his stint in Canada, Gaglioti came to Teaneck and was an assistant for Fairleigh Dickinson's men's soccer head coach Tom Lang. After a successful season with the Knights, Gaglioti returned to Michigan where he had been the Director of Coaching for the Ann Arbor Youth Soccer Association since 1994.
Gaglioti continued his success with club teams, finishing in the semifinals of the 1998 Michigan Youth State Cup, winning the 1998 Capital Cup Championship and twice winning the Michigan Premier League 1st Division (1998 and 1999). He holds a prestigious U.S. Soccer Federation "A" License and Youth License.
