Your Eastern Shore Community College is proud to announce the hiring of Chase Baxa as the head coach of ESCC’s newly formed soccer program. Baxa begins in his role on February 3^rdand will proceed with student recruitment for the men’s and women’s teams.  This will include recruiting existing ESCC students and high school seniors from every high school on the Shore.  The college is extremely excited for the enthusiasm existing Shore-wide for these upcoming opportunities.

After a naming campaign held in the community and online last fall, final choices were posed to ESCC students in January.  With the final say for the team name, the campus spoke definitively and voted for the “ESCC-FC” (Eastern Shore Community College Football Club) with a nod to popular and dominating outfits worldwide. Logos and branding for ESCC-FC will be forthcoming.

A program budget was developed based on the experiences of other Virginia community colleges that have athletic programs and presented to the Accomack and Northampton Board of Supervisors.  Both boards, along with the ESCC Foundation, have provided funding to enable the launch of the program.

Coach Baxa is from Western Pennsylvania and moved to the Eastern Shore in 2021. A graduate of Geneva College, he played four years of Division III soccer there. He currently teaches science at Northampton High School and coaches the boys soccer program. He credits an incredible team and many coaches to help bring his overall coaching record to 43-14, including one state championship and one runner-up. 

Baxa also directs a travel soccer program, Shore FC, for players looking to play at a higher level. He says his passion for both science and soccer has led to incredible opportunities. At Northampton he has taught grades 9-12 including Environmental Science, Earth Science, Ecology, Anatomy, Marine Biology, and his specialty Physics.

He comments that “my goal for the men’s and women’s Eastern Shore Community College soccer teams is simple:  to showcase the talented and devoted student-athletes that come from the Eastern Shore and create a team that the entire community will be proud of.”

In the coming months there will be multiple opportunities to play soccer and showcase talents. This includes a student intramural league and weekend pick-up games starting in March. In April, the first ESCC Soccer ID Camp will be conducted to take a closer look at the students interested in continuing their soccer careers.

Open tryouts will then be held at the beginning of the fall semester to finalize the team before the season. Additional information and updates will be available on the ESCC website at es.vccs.edu and through the college’s social media channels. Coach Baxa contact information is cbaxa@es.vccs.edu.