Kyle Christensen spent 10 seasons (2015-24) with Utah Valley, including three as the Associate Head Coach (2022-24). He also served as the team's recruiting coordinator and helped the Wolverines to four NCAA Tournament appearances (2015, 2017, 2020, 2022), three WAC Tournament titles (2015, 2017, 2022), and a three straight WAC regular season championships (2022, 2023, 2024).
Under Christensen's leadership, Utah Valley won a third straight WAC title in 2024 with an impressive 6-0-1 WAC record. The team finished the season with a 12-5-2 overall record. An impressive 10 players earned All-WAC honors. Faith Webber was named WAC Offensive Player of the Year, while Haley Funn earned WAC Defensive Player of the Year accolades. Four players, including Webber, Funn, Manthy Brady, and Ruby Hladek earned All-Pacific Region honors.Â
He helped lead Utah Valley to a second straight WAC regular season championship in 2023. Utah Valley finished 2023 with a 10-4-5 overall record and a near perfect 7-0-2 mark in WAC play. The Wolverines finished atop the WAC standings with 23 points. UVU gave up only three goals in its nine WAC regular season games during the 2023 campaign. Four Wolverines earned All-WAC honors in 2023, including three first team selections. Sydney Bushman was named WAC Defensive Player of the Year. UVU had three of his players earn national academic honors, including two United Soccer Coaches Scholar All-America Team honors (Heather Stainbrook and Faith Webber) and one College Sports Communicators Academic All-America® honor (Sydney Bushman). Two Wolverines earned All-Pacific Region honors.
In 2022, Christensen helped Utah Valley to a 14-5-3 overall record and a 9-1-1 mark in WAC play. UVU won the WAC regular season title and then earned the program's first-ever at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament. UVU made its fourth straight WAC Tournament championship appearance in 2022. The 14 wins tied the all-time UVU record for wins in a season. The 2022 Wolverines were one of the best offensive teams in the nation as the squad ranked third nationally in assists (59), ninth in goals (54), sixth in points (167), and 10th in scoring offense (2.45). The Wolverines broke numerous UVU single season records this season, including total assists (59), assists per game (2.68), and total shots (438). Utah Valley played one of the toughest schedules in UVU history in 2022 with four nationally ranked teams on its slate. UVU came out of those four games with a 1-2-1 record, which included a 4-2 road win over then-13th ranked BYU and a 0-0 tie against then-No. 23 UCF.Â
Christensen helped the Wolverines to their third straight WAC Tournament championship match in 2021. The team finished the 2021 season with an impressive 13-7-2 overall record, including a 6-2-2 mark in WAC play. Lemay led the Wolverines to an 8-1-1 record at home. Eight Wolverines were named to the All-WAC team, including a school-record four first team honorees in Amber Tripp, Heather Stainbrook, Sadie Brockbank, and Jenna Shepherd. UVU's four first team All-WAC honorees in 2021 also earned All-Pacific Region honors--the most all-region honorees in team history.Â
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Christensen helped UVU to a record-breaking season in 2020-21 where the Wolverines claimed their first-ever WAC regular season title, a third NCAA Tournament berth, and the team's first-ever NCAA Tournament win with its 1-0 first-round win over No. 25 Memphis. The 2020-21 Wolverines are the first team in UVU athletics history to win both a WAC regular season title and WAC Tournament championship in the same season. The team also became the first program in UVU athletics history to win an NCAA Tournament game. A program-record 10 players earned All-WAC honors in 2020-21 and for the first time in program history, UVU had two players earn United Soccer Coaches Association All-Region honors.
Christensen helped Utah Valley earn its sixth-straight appearance in the semifinals and third showing in the championship match of the WAC Tournament in 2019. During that season, the Wolverines had the best RPI ranking in the WAC after playing one of the most difficult non-conference schedules in the nation. The Wolverines played three teams that finished with a top-15 or better national ranking during the 2019 season.
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In 2019, Christensen helped the Wolverines to an impressive 8-1-1 record at home. UVU held the ninth-best attendance in the country last season, bringing in an average of 1,319 fans per game. UVU broke the school record for attendance in 2019 with 13,189 fans. The team also broke the single game attendance record at Clyde Field against BYU with a school-record 3,952 fans. The game was the 12th highest attended game of the season in the entire nation.
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in 2019, UVU had an impressive 14 players earn academic all-WAC honors in 2019, including Bruce who also earned all-district academic honors and USC Division I Women’s Scholar All-West Region honors. Bruce was a finalist for a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford and signed a professional contract with the Puerto Rico Sol.
In 2018, Utah Valley picked up three wins at home during WAC play, including one of the most memorable victories in the history of Clyde Field as UVU defeated Chicago State, 6-0, in front of a school-record 3,211 fans at Clyde Field. UVU had three players earn awards in 2018 as both Hannah Bruce and Madeline Moore earned second team All-WAC selections and Brockbank earning WAC All-Tournament team honors.Â
In 2017, Christensen helped Utah Valley to its fourth-straight 10-plus win season, compiling a 10-12-1 record in 2017. The team won its second WAC Tournament title with Christensen on the staff and earned the WAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament where it took on top-ranked Stanford.
In 2015, Christensen was a part of history as the Wolverines enjoyed their best season in school history, winning a school-record 14 matches. Christensen helped the Wolverines to the WAC Tournament championship match where UVU snapped Seattle U's NCAA-leading 13-match unbeaten streak to claim UVU's first-ever WAC Tournament title and its first-ever trip to the NCAA Tournament.
Christensen grew up in Utah and played club soccer in Layton. He was recruited and played for the University of Denver where he earned Sun Belt Player of the Year honors as a senior. Following his play at DU, he was drafted in the MLS Superdraft by Chivas USA.
Christensen played semi-professional soccer for several years before starting his coaching career. He has been coaching now for seven years and is in his first season as a coach for Utah FC. During the last seven years he has coached club soccer, high school and at the collegiate level with Weber State and now Utah Valley.
