How Emma Woodley Became The First National Champion Coach for ECFC
- Andi Revesz
- Sep 10
- 4 min read
Emma Woodley, head coach of Edgewater Castle’s Women’s First Team, has overcome many roadblocks in her coaching and soccer career. This past season, she became the first coach in ECFC history to win a national championship trophy, all while being a mother and marking her place as a woman in a male-dominated sport.
Woodley started playing soccer at 3 years old, and it’s been a part of her life ever since. From a soccer themed room growing up to writing down plays in her diary, soccer has been a constant in her life and shaped her into who she is today.
Growing up in Colorado, Woodley played for various youth travel teams and for her high school before she was recruited to play for North Park University in Chicago. During her four-year stint with the Vikings, Woodley was named North Park’s Female Athlete of the Year in 2015 and to the First Team All-College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin—the first in more than 15 years for the university.
Directly after graduation, Woodley became a graduate assistant for the NPU women’s soccer program. In 2019, she was named head coach of the program, where she still coaches today outside of coaching for ECFC.
Woodley said her coaching career started by accident, but it’s something she loves and strives to keep doing every day.
“There [were] moments where I was like, ‘You know what? I’m not doing this anymore. I’m going to pursue a corporate professional career,’” Woodley said. “And I just didn’t feel the same as when I was out coaching. I really think the graduate assistant job I got right out of college was kind of the starting point of what really ignited my passion for it.”
While maintaining her job at North Park, Woodley coached various kids camps and clubs in the Chicago area before landing the head coach job at Edgewater Castle. Woodley jumped into the position in the middle of the 2023 United Women’s Soccer season, herself being unaware of the league but having a want to figure it all out. She said the club's involvement with the community, both players and staff, kept her at the helm.
“What I thought was going to be coaching a random team in the summer to keep my coaching skills fine-tuned,” Woodley said, “turned into, ‘Oh, this is actually potentially going somewhere, and these people involved are really passionate about this.’”
After leaving the club in the 2024 season on maternity leave, Woodley came back to coach this season, which presented challenges, mainly balancing being both a mom and coach.
“It’s definitely a lot to juggle, but it’s the best,” Woodley said. “It gives you a different purpose and different meaning, but also shows other women they can do things even though you have a kid.”
Overcoming these obstacles, Woodley came back in full swing. She coached the Women’s First Team to an undefeated regular season, won the United Women’s Soccer National Championship and the Illinois State Soccer Association’s Women’s Open Cup, both firsts for ECFC’s Women’s program.
“Earning these accolades,” Woodley said, “meant more than just winning. It kept the players and community engaged with the team and the organization.”
For Woodley, these wins and how she coached will transfer over to her collegiate team at NPU. While college and semi-professional soccer are different, there are many takeaways she will apply to her team.
“I have a new lens of the level the girls were able to achieve,” Woodley said. “There’s a different type of goal at North Park, but I know what it takes to get there, seeing the success, seeing the talent, seeing the skills, seeing even just the style of play that we were putting together. I know a little bit more on the roadmap to get there, because we achieved it with Edgewater.”
Woodley’s coaching career started when she was young, and has worked through being a young woman in a male-dominated sport. She said being a coach is about learning and finding a balance of deserving to be in the position she’s in and staying humble enough to keep learning.
Both at North Park and Edgewater Castle, Woodley’s staff are entirely female. The gender of her coaching staff doesn’t matter, but she said she believes it’s important for players to have a connection with their coaches who have gone through similar experiences.
In her position, Woodley wants to empower female soccer coaches and players.
“Whatever I can do to help push along a woman in this career is definitely something I am passionate about,” Woodley said. “I think it’s big for—and really the reason why we should have more female coaches and why I want to help grow that aspect—is because for the players, it’s so important to have a female coach that has been in your shoes and understands it.”
Woodley aims to keep the successes the Rooks have had throughout the remainder of her tenure with the organization, saying, “It’s just the beginning.”
