Camas High School has hired Keri Tomasetti as its next head girls soccer coach, athletic director Rory Oster confirmed on Thursday.
Tomasetti has been with the program for 13 years, first as a C-team coach for nine seasons, then a varsity assistant for the last four seasons. She replaces Roland Minder, who was the coach since 2004 and built both the girls and boys programs into a 4A state powers.
“I am really excited,” Tomasetti said. “And I know I can never fully fill Minder’s shoes. He lives, breaths soccer and the knowledge he has goes beyond anything I could ever imagine. So I just feel pretty privileged to have worked under him and gotten an inkling of (that).”
In each of her four season as a varsity assistant coach, Camas made it to the 4A state semifinals or further. She was a part of the program’s 2016 state title team.
The program won two state titles and 12 league championships, including the last nine in Minder’s 15 years at the helm.
“She’s going to be a great fit,” Oster said. “I know Camas girls soccer players love her and that will be an easy transition for them.”
Tomasetti was born and raised in Vancouver. She attended Fort Vancouver High School, then played soccer at Concordia College in Portland.
When Tomasetti, who is also an 8th grade social studies teacher at Liberty Middle School, first interviewed to become the C-team coach in 2006, she recalls Minder asking if she would be looking to take a varsity position down the road.
“I think then he was looking at someone dedicated long-term,” Tomasetti said.
Minder decided leading up to the fall season it would be his last. He submitted his letter of resignation on Dec. 6, the day after the team banquet, and officially recommended Tomasetti to be his replacement — a plan he had long in the works.
Oster leaned heavily on Minder’s recommendation for the future direction of the program, much like he did when Minder stepped down as head coach of the boys program before last spring after 23 seasons, and recommended assistant coach and former player Dan Macaya to be his successor.
“He built this program,” Oster said. “I respect the man so much. When you put the effort in to build a program, you should have a say on what happens (next).”
Minder embodied Camas soccer, Tomasetti said. As she approaches her first order of business, which is hiring her assistant coaches, she will look for someone who understands the history of the program.
“Camas isn’t the small mill town it once was,” she said. “We’re blue collar hard workers. I want to hire someone who knows the history.”
