Franklin Regional alum wins conference in 1st year as Penn State Behrend soccer coach

Making soccer memories is nothing new for Chris Ralph.

The 2015 Franklin Regional graduate played soccer throughout school, continuing at Penn State Behrend. After a brief stint as an assistant coach for Mercyhurst men’s soccer, he joined his alma mater as an assistant before taking the reins this past season, following the retirement of head coach Dan Perritano.

“I had a really good experience at Behrend,” said Ralph, 27, who was an All-American goalkeeper for the Lions. “My senior year we went to the NCAA Sweet 16.”

In his first year as coach, the Lions finished the season 10-7-4 (6-0-2) and won the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference, earning a berth in the NCAA tournament, where they went out in the first round after an overtime loss to Johns Hopkins.

“We played a challenging schedule and started the season a little bit slow,” he said.

Ralph said he learned a lot from his former coach.

“I think the most important thing he taught me is that it’s a player’s game — let the players play,” he said. “Guys don’t need micro-managed, and a lot of coaches can over-involve themselves.”

The Lions return 17 players next season, and Ralph said he’s looking forward to building on this year’s success.

“We set a good tone,” he said. “We always want to win the conference, and we haven’t done that since 2019. That’s an important piece moving forward.”

Keeping an eye on southwestern Pennsylvania is also part of the strategy.

“The WPIAL is primarily where our roster comes from,” he said. “We have a couple international players and a couple from other places, but we’ve always done well recruiting there and have good relationships with a lot of the coaches.”