Two of the longest-tenured girls soccer coaches in Northern Virginia have left their posts.
Lake Braddock coach Liz Pike, who led the Bruins to their second straight Group AAA state championship in June, has accepted the head coaching job at Shenandoah University, a Division III school in Winchester, Va. Langley coach Melissa Bibbee recently took a teaching position at Chantilly and has applied for the open girls soccer job at that school, although she has yet to interview
Pike, a 1990 Lake Braddock graduate, leaves after eight years with the Bruins, who won three Patriot District, two Northern Region and three state championships during her tenure.
“I’m excited. It was time for a change and this is a chance to build a program,” said Pike, the 2007 Examiner girls soccer Coach of the Year. “But it is bittersweet. I’m just glad the program I’m leaving behind is still in great shape.”
Pike’s departure leaves open the region’s most high-profile job. Lake Braddock has won five state championships since the Virginia High School League first sponsored a state tournament in 1984. The Bruins lost 11 seniors who will play college soccer next season, but return seven underclassmen who had significant roles in the state repeat.
Bibbee, 32, had been at Langley for 10 years, the last nine as head coach, and her teams won 115 games. The Saxons recorded four Liberty District titles during that stretch and a Northern Region championship in 2001. The move was family-related. Bibbee has two young daughters — Skylar, 4, and Payton, 1 — and a long commute from her Centreville home.
“This was something I’d been thinking about for a while,” said Bibbee. “Leaving Langley is one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever made. But you have to put your family first.”
