Matthew Olson is a retired American

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

goalkeeper.

Player

College

Olson graduated from Lindbergh Senior High School. In 1986, he began his collegiate career at

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a state university system, system of Public university, public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. The system has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration o ...

where he won the 1988 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship. He then transferred to

Wake Forest University Wake Forest University (WFU) is a private research university in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1834, the university received its name from its original location in Wake Forest, north of Raleigh, North Carolina. The R ...

where he played the 1989 (ACC Champions) and 1990 seasons (#4 Ranking, NCAA Tournament - 2nd round).

Professional

In 1989, Olson played for the

Seattle Storm The Seattle Storm are an American professional basketball team based in Seattle. The Storm compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Western Conference (WNBA), Western Conference. The team was founded by Gi ...

in the

Western Soccer Alliance The Western Soccer Alliance was a professional soccer league featuring teams from the West Coast of the United States and Western Canada. The league began in 1985 as the Western Alliance Challenge Series. In 1986, it became the Western Soccer ...

. In 1995, he played for the Everett BigFoot. In February 1996, D.C. United selected Olson in the thirteenth round (130th overall) of the

1996 MLS Inaugural Player Draft The MLS Inaugural Player Draft, held before Major League Soccer's initial 1996 season, distributed players to the league's ten inaugural teams. The Inaugural Player Draft occurred on February 6 and 7, 1996 after each team was allocated four marqu ...

. On March 4, 1996, D.C. United then traded Olson to the MetroStars. On April 15, 1996, the MetroStars released Olson. Olson was picked up by the

New England Revolution The New England Revolution are an American professional association football, soccer club based in the Greater Boston area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference. It is on ...

. He then signed with the Hampton Roads Mariners for the 1996 season where he was named to the USISL All-Star team. He later re-joined D.C. United and was a member of the 1996 MLS Cup Championship team. In early 1997, Olson suffered a broken leg but returned to the USISL later in the year to play two games for the

Carolina Dynamo Salem City FC is an American amateur soccer club based in Bermuda Run, North Carolina that fields a men's team in USL League Two, and a women's team as the North Carolina Fusion in the USL W League. The teams plays their home games at the Truis ...

. Olson also has experience playing in Europe having trials at

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club from Luton, Bedfordshire, England. The club currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "The Hatters", L ...

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club ( ), commonly referred to as Wolves, is a professional association football, football club based in Wolverhampton, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league s ...

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club (), commonly known as West Brom or The Albion, is a professional association football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the Englis ...

and playing a few first team games at

Cheltenham Town Cheltenham Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1887, ...

as well as spending time with clubs in Sweden Hammarby and

AIK Stockholm Allmänna Idrottsklubben (English language, English: ''the Public Sports Club''), usually referred to as just AIK and internationally known as AIK Stockholm, is a professional sports club from Stockholm, Sweden. Founded in 1891, at the downtow ...

and Holland

Vitesse Arnhem SBV Vitesse Arnhem (''Stichting Betaald Voetbal Vitesse Arnhem, Eng: Professional Football Foundation Vitesse Arnhem''), widely known as Vitesse () or internationally known as Vitesse Arnhem, is a Dutch professional association football, footba ...

and

Ajax Amsterdam Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax (), also known as AFC Ajax, Ajax Amsterdam, or commonly Ajax, is a Dutch professional Association football, football Football team, club based in Amsterdam, that plays in the , the top tier in Dutch football. ...

Coaching

In 1992, Olson joined the

Washington Huskies The Washington Huskies are the college athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Washington, located in Seattle. The school competes at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) N ...

as a goalkeeper coach, a position he held until 1996. In 1997, he spent one season as the goalkeeper coach at his alma mater, Wake Forest. In 1998, he became the girls' soccer coach at Skyline High School where he was the 2000 King County Coach of the Year. Over his seven seasons with Skyline, Olson took the team to a 62-26-11 record and third and fourth-place finish in the 3A WIAA state championships. On February 23, 2004, he returned to the Washington Huskies as an assistant coach.Matthew Olson Named Assistant Men's Soccer Coach
He also served as the goalkeeper coach for

Pacific Lutheran University Pacific Lutheran University (PLU) is a Private university, private Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Lutheran university in Parkland, Washington. It was founded by Norwegian Lutheran immigrants in 1890. PLU is sponsored by the 580 congreg ...

(Washington) men's and women's team. He is currently a Director at Eagleclaw FC/Valencia CF Academy-Seattle and a Staff Instructor with the

United Soccer Coaches The United Soccer Coaches (formerly known as the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA)) is an organization of American soccer coaches founded in 1941. It is the largest soccer coaches organization in the world, with more than ...

(USC), holding a US Soccer 'A' License. Olson is also a Professional Match Director with

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

(MLS).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Olson, Matthew Living people American soccer coaches American men's soccer players North Carolina Fusion U23 players Cheltenham Town F.C. players National League (English football) players Seattle BigFoot players Seattle Storm (soccer) players Virginia Beach Mariners players Indiana Hoosiers men's soccer players Wake Forest Demon Deacons men's soccer players Western Soccer Alliance players Sportspeople from Renton, Washington Soccer players from King County, Washington Men's association football goalkeepers Year of birth missing (living people) Expatriate men's footballers in England