Sam Raper

Sam Raper joined the Virginia women’s soccer coaching staff as the goalkeepers coach prior to the 2022 season.

In his first season with the Cavaliers, he helped Virginia advance to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament and coached a defense that posted 13 shutouts on the season and allowed only 17 goals on the season.

Raper brought a diverse background with him to Virginia, having worked as an assistant coach for the U.S. U-15 and U.S. U-17 Women’s Youth National Teams. He served as goalkeeper coach for the U-17s as the team prepares for the Concacaf Women’s U-17 Championship in the Dominican Republic in 2022. His duties consisted of analysis of training and matches while planning and delivering goalkeeper trainings, presentations and evaluations, as well as tracking the individual developmental plans for all the goalkeepers.

In addition to his work with U.S. Soccer, Raper served at Wingate University as an assistant coach for the men’s program since 2018. He also served as an assistant for the women’s program from 2017 through the 2019 seasons and was recently named the interim head coach of the women’s program. In his time with the Bulldogs, he coached United Soccer Coaches All-Region and All-South Athletic Conference honoree Abbey Frail on the women’s side, and USL League one player Pablo Jara, USL League One player Jamie Boegel and current All-SAC selection Jens Bergendorff on the men’s side.

In his tenure, Wingate’s men’s team claimed back-to-back South Atlantic Conference Tournament Championships in 2019 and 2020 and posted 29 shutouts. The women’s team posted 23 shutouts under his tutelage and advanced to the championship game of the South Atlantic Conference Tournament twice. Each program has advanced to the NCAA Tournament in his time on staff.

He also has served as the Director of Goalkeepers for the Wingate International Soccer Academy since August of 2017.