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New Troy soccer coach Stuart Gore announced the hiring of new assistant coach Eric Masters on Feb. 7.

Masters joins a Troy coaching staff that also includes Kayla Saager, who will be entering her fourth season with the Trojans. Masters will serve as associate head coach and recruiting coordinator for the Trojan soccer program. He will primarily work with Troy’s goalkeepers on the field.
Gore and Masters are no strangers to one another after having served together at two other stops. Masters was an assistant coach alongside Gore at North Dakota in 2020 and was an assistant coach for Gore at Northwestern State last season.

“I am very excited that Eric has joined us at Troy,” Gore said. “Eric is a proven soccer mind with an exceptional eye for talent. He’s one of the best goalkeeper coaches in the country and it’s fantastic to continue working alongside him.”

Masters was a star goalkeeper at Long Island University-Brooklyn (LIU-Brooklyn), where he helped his team win a conference championship in 2004. Masters also played professionally for the Capital Soccer Club, Carson FC, Northern Nevada ODP and the United Soccer Club. He also played for the Long Island Rough Riders in the USL.

After serving as a graduate assistant at his alma-mater, Masters spent three years at Fordham University and then spent nearly a decade coaching high school and club level soccer in Nevada. He served as head coach for two years at Carson High School, taking Nevada Coach of the Year honors.

Masters returned to the college ranks as goalkeeper coach at North Dakota and then served as goalkeeper coach at Colorado State before becoming associate head coach and goalkeeper coach at Northwestern State under Gore. At Colorado State, Masters’ goalies held 12 of 17 opponents to one goal or less, including four shutouts, in 2021. In 2022, Masters’ goalie Chloe DeShazer earned All-Conference honors and North Dakota’s goalkeepers earned the second-most shutouts in the league.