Guven Takes Over Women's Soccer, Cheney Hired to Lead Men's Soccer
PAXTON, Mass.—Laura Habacker, Director of Athletics at Anna Maria College, has announced some coaching changes within the AMCAT Athletic Department. Taskin Guven, who has spent three seasons as head coach of the men's soccer team will now take over as the women's soccer head coach, while Malcolm Cheney has been hired to spearhead the men's team.
"While this switch is unusual, I think it is the best move for the success of both programs," said Habacker. "Coach Guven will provide much-needed stability to our women's program and has already demonstrated strong recruiting skills at Anna Maria."
"Additionally, we're thrilled to welcome Coach Cheney to the Anna Maria community. He comes to us as an experienced coach and a decorated former goalkeeper at Keene State College," added Habacker.
A four-year member of the Keene State men's soccer team, Cheney was a three-year starter in net for the Owls. He aided the Owls to two winning seasons as a sophomore and junior and two second-place finishes in the Little East Conference. He served as team captain as a senior and was named to the Little East All-Conference team.
"I want to thank Laura and the entire athletic administration for the opportunity to head the men's soccer program. I have spoken at length with Coach Guven and am very excited to build on the progress the program has made in the past few years," said Cheney.
Since graduating from Keene State in 2014, Cheney has worked as a social studies teacher and boy's junior varsity soccer coach at Hopkinton High School in Hopkinton, Mass. He also spends his summers offering goalkeeper instruction at the Owls Soccer Camp held at Keene State.
Cheney will inherit an AMCAT team that finished 3-12-1 last season. The team saw strong growth in the second half the season, when they posted back-to-back wins against Suffolk and Becker.
Coach Guven will take over a women's program that finished 4-12-1 in 2015. The program, which won its first Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) game in 2014, added two more wins in conference play last season against Suffolk and Norwich.
Both teams are slated to open the 2016 campaign in September. The women will travel to Dean College on September 1st, while the men's team will travel to Regis for a noon tilt on Saturday, September 3rd.
