Charleston Soccer Academy

Coaching Staff

Shanna Caldwell
Associate Head Coach

Shanna Caldwell is in her sixth season with the College of Charleston women's soccer program after joining head coach Christian Michner in the spring of 2017.

Caldwell came to CofC with 15 years of coaching experience, including a four-season stint as the first-ever women's soccer head coach at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.

While with the Islanders, Caldwell took total ownership of the new program, helping to design the brand new $8.8 million Dugan Stadium, which serves as the home of TAMUCC's soccer and track & field programs. She propelled her student-athletes both on the field and in the classroom, leading them to a program-best 5-5-1 Southland record in 2015 as well as a cumulative team GPA of 3.0.

Prior to her time in Corpus Christi, she served as recruiting coordinator at Akron (2008-11) and Baylor (2006-08) and before that was an assistant at Alabama (2005) and Oklahoma (2002-05). While working for Sooner women's soccer, she and Michner worked together as colleagues for a season.

During her playing career, Caldwell was a goalkeeper for both North Carolina and UConn before going on to play for the Greensboro Sparks and Virginia Beach Piranhas of the W-League as well as WUSA's Atlanta Beat.

While playing for the Huskies in 2001, she was the national leader in goals against average. She was also a member of the U-20 Olympic Development Program national pool. She earned a bachelor's degree in sociology from UConn.

Sharis Hanson
Assistant Coach

Sharis Hanson was named assistant coach for College of Charleston women's soccer in May of 2024, head coach Christian Michner announced.

“We are so excited to add Coach Hanson to our program and it was obvious right away that she was going to be a great fit for us at Charleston," says Michner. "Her background as a player and as a coach at the highest levels will give our team additional resources to tap into for their development. She is such an incredible person and has the qualities we were looking for in a new coach. Sharis’ primary responsibility is as our Recruiting Coordinator and getting her hands wrapped around that piece for us. Recruiting is the lifeblood of a program and she will be charged with making sure our future classes align with our vision and our values. I know that her experience in this area will be a huge bonus for us and am excited to see her thrive here. We’re lucky to be able to add someone like Sharis to our staff and I know that she will make a major impact in all areas in this program.”

Coach Hanson joins the College after a two-year coaching stint at Colorado State. In her two seasons with the Rams, she has helped guide them to an appearance in the Mountain West Conference in 2021 with a 6-8-3 (5-5-1 MW) record.

She has coached three Rams to All-Mountain West honors, two in 2021 (Gracie Armstrong and Kristen Noonan) and one in 2022 (Liv Layton). Along with a pair of All-Newcomer honorees, both freshman Shayna Ross (2021) and Mia Massey (2022).

Prior to her time at Colorado State, Hanson coached the last six years in the Texas high school system upon graduating the University of Texas in 2015. Most recently, she led Vandegrift High School, located in Austin, Texas, to a 20-4-2 overall record, advanced to the state championship game and was named TASCO Region 4 Coach of the Year.

Hanson's playing career as a Longhorn consisted of three All-Big 12 honors, two all-region awards, and a second-round trip in the NCAA Tournament during her senior campaign. During her time at Texas (2012-14), the Longhorns went 31-24-8, playing under head coach Angela Kelly. Hanson earned All-Big 12 Second Team and Third Team All-Central Region honors in her final season, which was UT's most successful as well with the second round NCAA appearance and an 11-8-4 final record. Her junior year, she earned All-Big 12 First Team and third team All-Central Region honors again, while the Longhorns finished third in the conference. She started every game in her final two years in Austin. Her sophomore year was her first in the Burnt Orange, which represented her first all-conference honor - a second-team nod - in 2012. Scholastically, she was a two-time Academic All-Big 12 student and graduated with a degree in mathematics.

Prior to her time in Austin, Hanson spent her freshman season at Houston and was named All-Conference USA and C-USA All-Freshman Team.

Hanson grew up in a soccer family as her two older sisters, Ashley and Christy, played at University of Mobile in Alabama. Sharis grew up in San Antonio, Texas where she attended and played for Johnson High School. She was named San Antonio Player of the Year as a senior in addition to being named to the Class 5A All-State Team and Class 5A All-State Tournament Team. The Jaguars went 18-6-3 and advanced to the Class 5A state semifinals for the first time in program history with Lachappelle leading the way. She scored two first-half goals in a 2-0 victory in the Region IV-5A finals to push the team to the state final four.