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Coach Hennessey begins his ninth season of leading highly successful Lee women’s soccer teams that have posted 114 wins against only 30 losses and 17 ties. His 2022 squad finished at 12-4-5 during the Gulf South Conference regular season and posted upset wins over Montevallo and top-seeded West Florida in reaching the GSC tournament championship game.

The Lady Flames advanced to the NCAA DII National Tournament for the seventh time in the past eight years. The tournament was canceled in 2020 due to the COVID pandemic outbreaks. Lee suffered a heartbreaking 1-0 first-round loss in 2022 to rival West Florida. Katie Dirkse was selected as a United Soccer Coaches All-American Athlete and Scholar.

Hennessey directed his 2021 team to an unbeaten 19-0-1 mark. His 2021 team completed an historic season on a cool, damp evening inside the Ray Conn Sports Complex when it defeated Shorter University 5-0. The win moved the Lady Flames to 16-0 overall and 13-0 against Gulf South Conference competition. The victory marked the first time a Lee women's soccer team had completed the regular season unbeaten. Hennessey captured his 100^th career coaching victory with a 4-0 shutout of Christian Brothers on Nov. 7.

His 2021 Lady Flames claimed the program's second Gulf South Conference Tournament Championship with a 3-0 shutout over West Georgia. The team saw its season come to a stunning end in the Second Round of the NCAA Championship, falling in penalty kicks to Florida Tech, 4-3. After an undefeated 19-0-1 season and a No. 2 national ranking the Lee women's soccer staff earned the United Soccer Coaches South Region Staff of the Year honor.

Lee women's soccer goalkeeper Jackie Burns, and forward Riley Henry were named NCAA All-Americans by the DII Conference Commissioners Association and United Soccer Coaches organization. Burns went 14-0-1 on the year with 11 shutouts and 0.27 goals against average. Henry capped off her career with United Soccer Coaches Third Team honors. She tallied 12 goals, five assists, and 29 points, including six game-winning scores.

Hennessey, a native of Manchester, England, said it was former Lee assistant and current North Alabama women’s soccer coach Chris Walker who encouraged him to come to America and play with the Flames. "I had grown up playing with the Manchester City club, an elite-level soccer program, and when that didn’t work out," he noted, "I turned my attention to college and met my wife here at Lee."

Hennessey and his wife Jenae reside in Cleveland with their two daughters, Emory Blake and Sutton Elizabeth and one son, Brewer.

HENNESSEY SEASON-BY-SEASON