Hershey Soccer Club

Sam Bishop joins the HSC soccer staff as our Goalkeeping Director in 2011 after a four-year professional playing career. Bishop, a 2005 graduate of Lehigh University, will focus his coaching efforts primarily around the HSC goalkeepers.

The Moorestown, N.J., product spent the 2010 season with FC Sonic Lehigh Valley of the National Premier Soccer League (NPSL). There he backstopped his team to double-digit wins, a Northeast – Keystone Conference title, a Northeast Regional title, and a spot in the NPSL Final Four. FC Sonic would fall to eventual NPSL Champion Sacramento Gold in the semifinals, but Bishop rallied his team to a third place finish in the league.

Bishop previously tasted NPSL success when his squad won the championship in 2008. In addition to his accomplishments at that level, Bishop earned an invite to preseason camp with the Philadelphia Union of Major League Soccer (MLS) in 2010. The veteran keeper has close ties to head coach Steve Widdowson from his extensive time with the Harrisburg City Islanders of the United Soccer Leagues (USL). Bishop was a member of the City Islanders team that captured the 2007 USL DII Championship.

During his career at Lehigh, Bishop set the school record for lowest career goals against average (0.67). It’s a record that still stands. Bishop also compiled 10 shutouts for the Mountain Hawks and finished his career with a 16-9-9 record. He was a Second Team All-Patriot League selection in 2003. 

A few stops have lined Bishop’s coaching résumé prior to Hershey. He served as an assistant coach at Muhlenberg College during the 2007 and 2008 seasons before returning to his alma mater to coach the goalkeepers in 2009.

Bishop holds National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) national goalkeeping and advanced regional diplomas.