Dolores Deasley begins her 16th season leading the Jones College women's soccer program.
The Bobcats have been one of the best programs in the nation over the past decade, continuously ranked in the Top 10 and competing for conference and national titles all while boasting one of the top team grade point averages in the state and country and giving back to their community.
Deasley has compiled a fantastic 192-49-9 record during her 15-year tenure and has guided Jones to three consecutive NJCAA Tournament Appearances and six MACCC/Region 23 championships.
She's coached dozens of all-conference and all-region performers and 10 NJCAA and United Soccer Coaches All-Americans, including two-time selections Kendyl Terrell, Jordan Smith, Aimee Durn and Kelly Stubbington.
Fifty-three players have continued their careers at the four-year level, including a program-best nine off the 2019 roster and eight off last year's squad.
Jones advanced to the national semifinals again last season, knocking off No. 11 CCBC Essex and No. 1 Heartland to win its group. They would close the year 13-3-2 overall by outscoring their opposition 58-9 with 11 shutout wins, and off the pitch, posted an outstanding 3.77 team GPA to be named 2022-23 MACCC All-Academic Team of the Year.
In the 2021 fall season, she led the Bobcats to a 14-2-1 mark, No. 2 final ranking and the MACCC/Region 23 championship. It was their sixth region title in nine years. The Bobcats outscored their opponents 64-8 and had 11 shutouts.
Deasley, along with assistant coach Tori Brook and volunteer assistant Adrian Cabado, were named the United Soccer Coaches Junior College Division II Women's Soccer National Staff of the Year. She also earned NJCAA Region 23 Coach of the Year honors for the sixth time.
She guided the Bobcats to their first-ever NJCAA Division II National Tournament appearance in the 2021 spring season in Evans, Georgia, and two wins shy of a national title. Jones knocked off back-to-back Top 10 teams in Lake County and CCBC Essex to reach the national championship semifinals before falling to eventual national champion, Phoenix College.
Jones finished a condensed CoVID-19 season 14-3 with a dozen wins coming by shutout. The Bobcats, ranked No. 7 in the final NJCAA poll.
Off the pitch, Deasley, a native of Drumkeen, Ireland, has taken the Bobcat soccer team on spring break trips to her home country in 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2018. The team and players travel, sightsee, take tours, learn more about the game and play Gaelic football.
Ranked 14th in the NJCAA to start the 2019 season, JC ended the year 11-7-1 overall, as south division co-champions and advanced to the MACCC Semifinals. Seven of the Bobcats' 11 wins came via shutout.
Jones posted a 14-3 record in 2018, winning the conference title on its home turf, 6-1, over Gulf Coast. They then whipped LSU Eunice 8-1 for the region title before falling in the NJCAA South District playoffs at No. 1 Tyler (Texas) 3-1. The Bobcats were ranked No. 10 in the final NJCAA Division I poll.
Jones was 9-3-2 and captured the conference/region crown in 2017. The Bobcats upset previously unbeaten and No. 16 rated Holmes, 3-2, in the title match. That earned them a berth in the NJCAA District H playoffs where they hosted and lost to No. 4 Eastern Florida, 4-0. JCJC ended the year 20th in the nation.
In 2016, the Bobcats notched a 15-2 record and won its third MACCC/Region 23 championship. Jones defeated Pearl River 6-1 in the semifinals and Holmes 6-1 in the tournament championship game. Jones traveled to Melbourne, Florida, to face Eastern Florida State College in the NJCAA District H playoffs where they fell 5-3. Jones ended the season rated No. 8 in the final NJCAA Division I regular season poll.
JCJC posted a 13-4 record, advanced to the MACCC/Region 23 championship game and was ranked as high as 18th during the 2015 season.
In 2014, Deasley led JCJC to a 16-0-1 record and an MACCC South Division crown. JCJC finished the season rated No. 19 in the NJCAA Division I poll and they were ranked as high as No. 7 at one point. The Bobcats fell in the MACCC/Region 23 Tournament semifinals to Pearl River, 4-2, on penalty kicks.
Deasley led JCJC to an MACCC/Region 23 championship and an NJCAA Tournament appearance in 2013. The Lady Bobcats ended the year with a 17-2 record, which was a school record for victories in a season.
The Bobcats captured the MACCC/Region 23 Tournament with a 6-0 victory over Pearl River and then hosted the NJCAA District H playoff game vs. Eastern Florida State College. It was the first time ever for an NJCAA soccer playoff game to be held at JCJC. EFSC defeated JCJC, 2-0. The Lady Bobcats were ranked No. 12 in the final NJCAA Division I poll and were ranked as high as No. 10 in the nation during the regular season.
Deasley led JCJC to 13-1-1 record and an MACCC South Division championship in 2012. Jones had a 12-game winning streak and was ranked as high as No. 13 in the NJCAA poll at one point. JCJC was 10-5 in 2011.
Deasley guided the Bobcats to a 15-3-1 record in 2010, south division championship and first-ever MACCC and Region 23 championship. JCJC defeated Itawamba, Hinds and Meridian by identical 1-0 scores. JCJC advanced to the finals of the NJCAA District E Tournament where they fell to top-ranked Tyler Junior College.
The Bobcats finished 7-7 in Deasley's first season in 2008. JC just missed out on the playoffs in her second season when they fell to Mississippi Gulf Coast in a penalty shootout in the season-finale. They ended the year 11-4.
Deasley was an assistant with the women's program in 2007.
Deasley received her undergraduate degree from Hofstra University in 2004 and her master’s in sports management from Southern Mississippi, where she was an assistant coach for the Lady Eagles’ soccer team.
During her senior year at Hofstra, Deasley was named Female Student-Athlete of the Year, the Colonial Athletic Association’s Defensive Player of the Year, First team All-CAA, Third Team All-American and First Team All-Region by the National Soccer Association of American and Soccer Buzz magazine.
A former member of the Irish National Team, Deasley also played for the New York Magic, the Long Island Lady Riders and was a Women’s Premier Soccer League national champion with the Long Island Fury.
Deasley is the daughter of William and Bridget Deasley and has five brothers and four sisters.
Brendan Connolly enters his eighth year as head coach of the Jones College men’s soccer program for the 2023 campaign.
The Belfast, Ireland, native joined the JC coaching staff as an assistant in August 2011 working mostly with the goalkeepers for both the men’s and women’s teams at one time and an instructor in the HPR Department before being named head coach prior to the start of the 2016 season.
Connolly is 79-33-4 overall (.698) in seven seasons, leading Jones to four MACCC titles in the past five years and a pair of NJCAA Division II Tournament appearances in 2023 and the 2021 spring season.
Recognized four times as the MACCC Coaching Staff of the Year, Connolly and the Bobcats are coming off their best season in the team's history.
Jones completed the program's first-ever undefeated regular season on its way to conference, region and district titles. The lone blemish on a remarkable 16-1 season was a setback to eventual national champion Prairie State College, 2-0, in the national tournament.
History was also made on October 10, 2022, when both the NJCAA Division II Poll and United Soccer Coaches tabbed Jones as the No. 1 team in the country for the first time.
Prior to going 11-3-1 in the 2021 fall season, Jones finished 13-4 in a CoVID-19 postponed season with a perfect 7-0 mark at home in the spring of 2021. They ran roughshod through the conference/region tournament, outscoring Holmes, Hinds and No. 12 Pearl River 17-3 to claim a third-straight championship.
Behind Elean Fajardo's double overtime golden goal, Jones won its first NJCAA Tournament game in program history, 2-1, over No. 8 Southeastern (Iowa) on June 6.
Jones' 2019 squad was unbeaten in September and October and defeated MGCCC 4-3 in penalty kicks in the title match. JC started the year 4-4 before finishing 12-6-1.
Jones went 14-3-1 in 2018 and won its first MACCC championship with a thrilling, 2-1 OT victory over Southwest. The Bobcats advanced to the NJCAA South District playoffs for the first time in school history, dropping a 3-0 decision at No. 4 Tyler JC.
Connolly led the Bobcats to a 5-8-1 record in 2017 and an 8-8 mark in 2016 and a berth in the MACCC/Region 23 Tournament semifinals.
Connolly has coached all four of Jones' NJCAA and United Soccer Coaches All-Americans in program history and 28 four-year signees.
The Bobcats have also been recognized as an NJCAA and United Soccer Coaches All-Academic Team in four consecutive seasons, a commitment to winning on and off the pitch.
Connolly played soccer in Ireland for Newington, Glentoran and Cliftonville. He came to the United States in August of 2007 on a soccer scholarship to William Carey University. He was a part of the WCU men’s soccer program from 2007-10.
The Crusaders won the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference (GCAC) in 2007 and participated in the NAIA men’s soccer national championships in 2009 and 2010. The Crusaders were also ranked in the Top 25 during his time at WCU.
Connolly was named an Academic All-American in 2010 and graduated with a BS degree in Health, Physical Education and Recreation from WCU in August of 2011. He earned his master’s in Sports Management in 2013 at the University of Southern Mississippi.
Brendan is married to the former Kathryn Ferrell of Hattiesburg and the couple welcomed a baby boy, John, in July.
Tori Brook returns for a sixth season as an assistant with the Jones women's soccer program.
The Bobcats have sported a 61-18-6 record in her five seasons with four south division championships, a Top 15 ranking each season and MACCC/Region 23 Championships in 2017 and the 2021 fall season.
Jones has made three consecutive trips to the NJCAA Division II National Tournament -- the program's first three ever -- and made the national semifinals in two of its three appearances.
Brook is involved in all aspects of the women's soccer team, including recruiting, development and camps, alongside longtime head coach Dolores Deasley.
In her five seasons, Jones has sent 28 players on to the four-year level, including a program-record nine in 2019 and eight off last year's squad.
The Leeds, England, native came to the United States in 2011 to play at the University of West Alabama under head coach Graeme Orr.
She graduated from UWA in 2015, served as a graduate assistant at Southern Miss from 2015-17 and earned her masters in sports management with an emphasis in event security management.
She also has acquired her US Soccer E License (Mississippi) and English Football Association Level I Coaching License.
Brook is the daughter of Mandy and Sean Brook and has a brother, Alex.
Jordan Parron begins his third season as an assistant coach with the Bobcats.
Parron and volunteer assistant Guilherme Ávila Terra were recognized with Brendan Connolly as the 2022 MACCC Coaching Staff of the Year after a record-breaking season.
In his first two seasons, Jones is an outstanding 27-4-1 with three combined championships last season, school-record 16 wins and No. 1 NJCAA and United Soccer Coaches national ranking.
An impressive 13 Bobcats have also moved on to four-year programs in Parron's first two years compared to just 15 the previous decade.
Parron joined the Bobcats after spending the 2020 season as a graduate assistant at Belhaven University where he coached goalkeepers.
The Blazers advanced to the ASC Quarterfinals last spring in a conference-only shortened schedule due to COVID-19. BU keepers combined for 33 saves, a pair of shutouts and a 1.34 goals against average.
This is Parron's first collegiate coaching job after spending the last five years coaching club soccer in his hometown of Brandon for Brandon Futbol Club.
Parron played collegiately at Mississippi Gulf Coast and Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) before ending at Memphis.
Parron started both seasons at MGCCC where he was named All-MACCC, an MACCC All-Star and helped the Bulldogs reach the 2014 NJCAA Region 23 Championship game. He started six matches his junior year at IUPUI before an injury ended his season.
He transferred to Memphis and played the 2017 spring season while completing his bachelors in sociology and psychology. He got his masters of science in leadership from Belhaven University.
Parron holds his USSF C and D Licenses.
He has a seven-year-old daughter, Layla Marie.