The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Crystal Royall Joins UAB Women's Soccer Staff
5/6/2009 12:00:00β―AM | Women's Soccer
May 6, 2009
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Crystal Royall, a former assistant coach at Birmingham-Southern and standout goalkeeper at Samford, has been named assistant coach of the UAB women's soccer program, announced Blazers' head coach Paul Harbin. Royall's main responsibility will be working with the UAB goalkeepers.
"Crystal is one of the top young coaches in our region," said Harbin. "She comes to UAB with four years of successful college coaching experience. She has a passion for soccer and a commitment to developing student-athletes. We're extremely fortunate to have Crystal join our staff."
Royall got her start in coaching by serving as a volunteer assistant coach for head coach Todd Yelton at Samford in 2005, then went on to spend the next three seasons as an assistant coach at Birmingham-Southern.
During her time with the Panthers, she concentrated on working with the goalkeepers and helped guide the team to 32 wins from 2006-08. Over the past two years alone, the BSC goalkeepers have held opponents to less than one goal per game under Royall's guidance.
Prior to beginning her coaching career, Royall was a stellar goalkeeper at Samford, emerging as one of the top players in the Ohio Valley Conference. A three-time All-OVC selection, she was also honored as the OVC Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year in both 2004 and 2005.
In addition to league honors, Royall was also named to the first-team All-Southeast Region by SoccerBuzz in 2004 and 2005. Additionally, she earned first-team Scholar All-South region and third-team Scholar All-America honors from the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) in 2004.
Royall, a native of Richmond, Va., graduated from Samford in 2005 with a bachelor's degree in education.
