Meet Our Coaching Staff – River City Athletics

Meet Our Coaching Staff

MJ Ball

MJ Ball is the Director of Coaching for River City Athletics, the Assistant Director of Coaching for SoccerMaine, Executive Director and founder of Fields4kids, and the Girls Varsity soccer coach for Hermon High School. He has a USSF “A” License and is a US Soccer National Instructor. He recently became the second coach in Maine to receive the Grassroots National Instructors License through US Soccer. He has the rare distinction of being named Coach of the Year at the Club, High School and College level. In 2020, Coach Ball was named High School Regional Coach of the Year as well as High School State Coach of the Year.

He has coached many teams during the past 25 years including; Head Coach for ODP teams in Maine and PA West; Founder and Director of Coaching/Head Coach for Blackbear United FC/ Seacoast United Blackbear, Pittsburgh Strikers, Penns Forest FC, Coldbrook Travel Soccer Club (formerly Bronco Travel) and Hermon Middle School. His teams have won 16 state titles to date.

Previously, he was the assistant men’s soccer coach for two years at University of Maine and coached the men’s and women’s soccer teams at the University of Maine at Machias for four years (2000 – 2004). Prior to his arrival in Maine he coached and taught at Seton La Salle High School in western Pennsylvania. He was a four year starter and two year captain at Westminster College in Pennsylvania and received his Masters degree in education from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, PA.

He resides in Hampden with his wife Heather and their two children Aidyn and Kelsey.

Anthony Bottie

Brock Bradford

Brock Bradford enters his first year of coaching with River City in 2022.

Brock has been coaching youth sports since 2016, and coached the U-12 Coldbrook Travel Soccer Club’s state championship team this past fall.

A native of Bangor, Brock’s high school teams won a state championship in basketball (Calvary Chapel- 2004) and soccer (Bangor Christian- 2005). Brock attended Husson University (2006-2010), where he was a four year starter on the men’s basketball team. The two-time captain helped guide the Eagles to their first North Atlantic Conference (NAC) Championship and berth to the NCAA DIII National Championship in program history as a junior in 2009 and three straight NAC Regular Season Championships in 2007, 2008 and 2009. He is one of the six players in program history to earn All-Conference honors three times, while collecting All-State honors twice, and was named a 2010 ESPN First Team Academic All-American.

Bradford graduated Magna Cum Laude in 2010 with a Bachelor of Science in Accounting and a Master of Business Administration. Brock was inducted into the Husson University Sports Hall of Fame in 2016, and is currently a member of the Husson University Board of Trustees.

He and his wife, Shelby, reside in Hampden, Maine with their daughter, Rivers, and their three sons, Colt, Bates, and Remy.

https://husson.prestosports.com/hof/bios/Brock_Bradford?view=bio

https://www.hussoneagles.com/sports/mbkb/2009-10/releases/Brock_Bradford_-_Academic_All-American

Alex Caballero

Alex Caballero entered his sixth year as a River City coach in 2021.

Prior to his arrival at River City, Alex was the Head Boys JV Coach and Assistant Boys Varsity Coach at Orono High school. During his tenure, he helped lead Orono High School to multiple years as Eastern Maine Finalists and assisted in their journey to the Maine State Championship in 2015. He also helped steer the team to three PVC Championships in 2016, 2017, and 2018.

Alex grew up in Old Town and attended Orono High School before graduating and heading to college at the University of Maine at Fort Kent. Alex grew up immersed in the game which provided a foundation for which he learned many valuable life lessons.

A local soccer player and a graduate of University of Maine at Fort Kent, Alex is an alumni of the UMFK men’s soccer team. Alex also played in Canada for Edmundston while attending college in Fort Kent from 2011 – 2015.

Alex works at Orono Middle School while finishing his Master’s Degree in Teaching in Science. He is also an assistant Coach for the Husson Men’s soccer team. Alex resides in Bangor with his wife, Rylee and their newborn son, Leo Santiago.

Nick Christiansen

Nick join the River City staff coaching the U17 Boys. Nick played four years at Waterville High School before playing four years at the collegiate level. He is currently the Assistant Women’s Coach at Husson University.

He is married and lives in Bangor with his wife Mikkala (Libbey), a former soccer standout at Hampden Academy.

Darren Clukey

Matt Goodman

Matt Goodman was a member of the Husson Men’s soccer team from 2001-04, leaving his mark as one of the best goalies to play for Husson. To this day, he ranks top-five in saves (327) and shutouts (11) while tying for second-most shutouts in a single season with seven. He was named to the North Atlantic Conference (NAC) All-Tournament Team and UMPI Invitational Round Robin All-Tournament Team his senior year.

Prior to attending Husson, Matt was diagnosed with Osgood Schlatter’s, which led to his focus on becoming a highly skilled goalkeeper versus becoming a field player. In high school, Matt was the starting goalkeeper for the prestigious Hampden Academy and he had the opportunity to play for Husson Sports Hall of Fame Head Coach Keith Bosley with the Rising Sun Soccer Club. This opened up multiple opportunities for Goodman, as he was invited to travel to England to compete with All Pro Soccer against several professional clubs in a showcase tournament.

Since 2004, Goodman has gathered experience coaching all over the states of Maine and New Hampshire. He has coached for the Maine Olympic Development Program, All Pro Soccer (Maine), Seacoast United (Maine), Granite State Soccer School (N.H.), Nashua World Cup (N.H.), Memorial High School (N.H.), John Bapst High School (Maine), Brewer High School (Maine), and is currently the Women’s Goalkeeping Coach at Husson University. While in his most recent tenure coaching high school goalkeepers, just the past few years, helped 2 different goalkeepers make back to back All-State squads, and had another 7 goalkeepers make All-Region and All-Conference respectfully. He has also attained a NSCAA Goalkeeping Diploma. Goodman will head the goalkeeping program for River City Athletics.

Damion Gordon

Coach Gordon joined our River City family just over 5 years ago, and has been a mainstay every since.

He is the current head coach of our U13 boys team. He has coached several of our youth teams in the past, including as assistant head coach of the U14 boys, who won their category at a tournament in Rhode Island in 2017.

Gordon is also helping to improve other talents from the wider community with his position as head coach of the Bangor Travel program.

Coach Gordon also worked at the high school level as assistant and eventually, head coach of Hampden Academy’s JV and Varsity boys teams, before resigning in 2020.

Gordon, who is now a United States citizen, emigrated to the country in 2015, having played at the semi-pro level in his native Jamaica for more than 12 years.

Coach Gordon has dedicated himself to making our players the best they can be, and from all indication, will be apart of the River City family for a long time to come.

Troy Gravel

Coach Gravel joins us from North Carolina will coach one of our two U17 Boys teams. He is currently the B Team Head Coach at Brewer Middle School. In North Carolina he was the Head Coach at Ayden Grifton High School Varsity Boys & Head Coach at AG Cox Middle CoEd. He has been coaching for about 15+ years and coached recreational soccer for 12 years before taking over at the High School & Middle School.

He holds the NFHS Certified InterScholastic Coaching Certificate and is a member of United Soccer Coaches (formerly NSCAA).Coach Gravel is a semi-Retired IT Consultant, moved to Maine in August 2016. His family is originally from Houlton & his daughter attended UMO.

Wayne Harvey

Wayne is the President and one of the founders of River City and has been coaching youth soccer since 2009. He has coached at the rec, travel and premier levels with Bangor Parks and Rec and Bangor Soccer Club. He has coached a girls fall travel team with Bangor Soccer Club since 2011. He has also coached teams in the SoccerMaine Pine Tree League and in the Maine State Premier League and State Cup.

Wayne has his USSF “E” license and is taking the next “D” level course. Wayne graduated with a degree in Mass Communications from the University of Maine. Wayne lives in Bangor with his wife Courtney and their three daughters and their Catahoula Leopard Dog, Riggins.

“Wayne’s coaching philosophy is defense comes first, offensively he places an emphasis on passing, possession and team work.”

Roland Mattsen

Mike Noblet

Mike Noblet grew up in Texas playing soccer at many different levels over the past 40+ years: Rec, Classic, Premier, ODP, High School, College, semi-pro, and many men’s league teams. His soccer playing journey has allowed him to play all over the world in places like Colorado Springs, Massachusetts, Maine, England, Denmark, Italy, all over Texas, and Mexico.

Mike started coaching here in the Bangor area about 20 years ago, when he moved here with his wife Caroline who is a professor at the University of Maine. Since then, he has been a coach for Blackbear United, Seacoast United, Bangor Soccer Club, Bangor Rec Soccer, Maine Tide, Husson University, Thomas College, and Bangor High School Varsity Boys. He has been assistant coach, associate head coach, and head coach, as well as goalkeeper coach/director over various coaching stints here in the area. He was part of the staff that won the class A boys state championship with Bangor High School in 2016 and was head coach, assisted by River City coach Rachel Olmstead, for Bangor Soccer club girls team that won the state championship in 2020 (3 regional champions) and 2021. He was also on staff at both Husson and Thomas for 3 consecutive NAC championships and subsequent trips to NCAA DIII tournaments.

Mike holds a USSF “E” license, US Soccer 11v11 Grass Roots License, USSF “D” license (National, qualified for “C”).

Mike’s “real” job is the Director of Procurement for the University of Maine System with an office on the campus of UMaine. He has been there since 2005 in several roles within procurement and finance.

Mike lives in Bangor with his previously mentioned wife Caroline and daughter Annika.

Rachel Olmstead

Paxton Oversmith

Jaime Pangburn

Jaime was an All State soccer player for several years in high school and then joined the men’s team at Eastern Maine Community College. She has enjoyed coaching boys and girls teams at the rec, and travel levels for both Bangor and Brewer Soccer clubs. She has coached a girls fall travel team with Brewer Soccer Club since 2015.

Jaime has a bachelors of science in sonography from Thomas Jefferson University and currently works at Bangor OB/Gyn – Women’s Ultrasound of Maine. Jaime holds a USSF Class “E” license.

Jaime lives in Eddington with her husband Jason and their three children, Jon, Jacki and Josh.

Gavin Penny

A graduate of Nyack College, Penny was a four-year starter and played a key role in both Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference championship-winning teams in 2010 and 2012, as well as helping the men’s soccer program earn their first NCAA DII National Championship bid in the school’s history.

Penny is a native of London, England, where he grew up playing at many levels. The highlight of his playing career was playing semi-professionally during his teen years. In 2007, Penny made the move to the US to begin coaching for the New York Red Bulls Training programs. He then moved on to become the head coach for two Super-Y League teams at the Ocean City Barons. His spell as a coach was put on hold following his time there to take the opportunity to play at Nyack College. During his time at Nyack, Penny became a man of God who has been involved in several mission trips & community service projects. In May 2012, Penny graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting.

Penny is currently a holder of the NSCAA Premier License & NSCAA Goalkeeping Level 2 Diplomas. He also holds an FA Coaching License, as well as a USSF Coaching License.

Penny’s leadership on the field has smoothly transitioned into a coaching role where he hopes to continue learning from his peers and develop his coaching accolades. Penny is also a CPA having most recently worked as a Tax Specialist at Berry Dunn, and an Audit Senior Assistant for Deloitte & Touche.

He and his wife Monique, currently resides in Brewer, Maine with their daugther Althea, and sons Nicolo and Felix.