Molly Poletto enters her second season on the Mizzou coaching staff in 2020. She joined the Tigers in the winter of 2019, bringing eight years of coaching experience with her, the previous two at Boston University.
Mizzou’s goalkeeper coach, Poletto faced the unprecedented challenge in 2019 of starting three separate players in the net due to medical issues. Peyton Bauman, McKenna Sheehan and Gillian Schulte all saw their first minutes of collegiate action on the season, with Schulte — a walk-on, starting the season’s final four games.
Poletto helped BU return to the top of the Patriot League in 2018, as the Terriers claimed their fourth Patriot League title and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the 14th time in program history. BU finished with an 11-7-4 record, including an unbeaten mark in Patriot League play at 7-0-2. Poletto was instrumental in guiding the goalkeeping unit to a combined 11 shutouts in 2018.
In Poletto’s first season in 2017, her goalkeepers posted a then-record 10 shutouts as the Terriers finished with a 10-8-3 record and reached the Patriot League Tournament semifinals. Under Poletto’s tutelage, BU surrendered just 0.86 goals per game and the goalkeepers combined for a .798 save percentage.
The Englewood, Colo., native worked primarily with the Utes’ goalkeepers unit in 2016 as a volunteer assistant coach after spending the previous three years as an undergraduate assistant coach. Following her promotion, the goalkeeping crew improved its goals against average from the 2015 season’s 1.21 to a miniscule 0.65, while boasting a .860 save percentage after finishing the previous year at .784. The Utes also totaled 10 clean sheets that season.
Poletto originally joined Utah as a student-athlete in the fall of 2011 but saw her collegiate career cut short by injury, leading her to focus on coaching. Beside assisting the Utes, she has also served as the Director of Goalkeeping and an age group head coach for the Utah Avalanche club team, while also working with the state’s ODP program.
She holds a USSF “B” license and serves as an instructor for the USSF “E” licenses. After graduating cum laude from the University of Utah in 2015 with a degree in communications and a minor in psychology, she completed her Master’s degree in sports psychology in the spring of 2017.
Poletto owns a six-year old border collie-lab mix, Callie.
