Tom Rusling enters his second season with the men's soccer program. Rusling was hired as Lander's assistant men's soccer coach in July 2015 and serves primarily as the goalkeeper coach.
The 2015 Bearcats advanced to the NCAA Tournament and finished with a 14-3-2 overall record. Lander boasted the Peach Belt's top defense, allowing just 0.89 goals per match. Goalkeeper Barrett Nielsen notched 82 saves on the season and earned first-team All-PBC and third-team NSCAA All-Southeast Region honors.
Rusling came to Lander from Lees-McRae (N.C.) College, where he served as the assistant coach in 2014-15. During the same time period he was the assistant coach for the North Carolina ODP team.
A native of Sheffield, England, Rusling graduated from Lees-McRae in 2014 with a bachelor's degree in Sports Science.
Rusling played four seasons at Lees-McRae (2010-13), where he was first team All-Conference Carolinas and the MVP of the conference tournament. He also led the Bobcats to the Conference Carolinas regular-season and tourament championships.
In addition to his play at LMC, he played youth soccer for Barnsley FC (2008-10) and later was a member of USL Premier Development League's West Virginia Chaos (2012) and Carolina Dynamo (2013). He helped lead the Dynamo to the USASA national championship.
