Entering his fourth season and fifth year as head coach of the Viking women's soccer program, Derrek Falor is excited that CSU is finally showing the fruits of his labor over the last four years. He is pointing to the 2007 campaign as the season the Vikings build on three years of gradual improvement and turn the hard work into victories.

When he was hired in February of 2003, he was charged with developing the program from scratch. He implemented an 18-month plan that culminated in 2004 when the Vikings began the inaugural season of women's soccer at CSU.

As he starts his fourth season, Falor has tempered his pleasure regarding basic development of the program with the reality that the improvements need to translate into more wins. That being said, he is looking forward to continuing the building process of what he hopes will become a regionally competitive soccer program.

A sports psychology major in college, Falor knew that the success of the team during the first several seasons wouldn't be based on wins and losses, but by how well the program was set up for success in the future. Playing with a roster that has been dominated by underclassmen - CSU has had just two seniors during the first three seasons - Falor knew that he needed to look to gradual improvement for the Viking roster over the course of the seasons.

That improvement was visible from the opening kick of the 2006 season as the Vikings drubbed Delaware State, 6-0, for the first win in the program's history and then went on to add two more wins as part of a 3-17 season. More importantly, CSU continued to show improvement in just about every phase of the game, turning what had once been lopsided losses into hotly contests battles.

The improvement is very easy to chart. After allowing 95 goals in 2004, the Vikings lowered it to 68 in 2005 and 54 last year, a 43-percent decrease, while also reducing shots from 566 in 2004 to 349 last year. At the other end of the field, the Vikings have increased their scoring total from four to 16 while improving shots by more than 40-percent.

More importantly, CSU returns eight starters and 15 letterwinners this season, affording Falor with the kind of depth and experience that he imagined when he first started the program. The passion that Falor displays for coaching has been evident in the process that he has used in developing the Viking program, following a step-by-step plan to address all the necessary growth aspects of the program.

After coming to CSU, Falor focused the majority of his energy on recruiting, searching Northeast Ohio and the surrounding area for players that he felt fit into his vision of the program. He accomplished just that, signing an inaugural class of 12 players in February of 2004 who he felt would be the cornerstone of the program for years to come.

In fact, seven of those initial dozen signees will be in uniform this fall, for the CSU program. Included in that class is midfielder Heather Clapacs, who earned second team All-Horizon League and Honorable Mention All-Ohio honors in each of her first two seasons, as well as defender Amber Rasmussen, a league all-newcomer team selection (2004). Not content to stop there, Falor scoured the CSU campus for walk-ons capable of contributing to the program, resulting in the addition of six players to the inaugural roster.

A two-year starter on the men's soccer squad at Shoreline College in Seattle, Wash. (1987-88), Falor transferred to Western Washington in 1989, earning a bachelor's degree in exercise science and sports psychology in 1992.

Falor remained at Western Washington, serving as a graduate assistant coach for both the men's and women's soccer teams for two years (1993-94) while he earning his master's in sports psychology in 1995.

Falor received his first collegiate head coaching position in 1995 when he was promoted to women's head coach at Western Washington. He compiled a 56-47-10 mark in six seasons, the second highest win total by a head coach in school history. He helped the Vikings to top three conference finishes each year.

Falor moved to DePaul in 2001 where he assisted in all facets of coaching, including recruiting, travel management, technical and tactical player development, mental skills training, and fundraising.

Falor helped the Blue Demons turn around a struggling program. DePaul won just three matches prior to his arrival but improved to six in 2001 and 10 in 2002.

A native of Seattle, Washington, Falor married the former Camille Anne Beatty in 1992. The couple has two sons, Mason (4) and Elliot (1). They reside in Lakewood.