Olaf Kirsten returns as the Head Coach of Northland College Women's Soccer in the summer of 2024.
From 2010-2015 Kirsten was the head coach for the men's soccer team at Northland College and was the head coach on the women's side for the 2013 season. In the 2013 season he led the team to a 9-8-3 record, reaching the Upper Midwest Athltic Conference Playoffs. Kirsten has been coaching for the Wisconsin Olympic Development Program for the last three years.
Kirsten was a member of the first men's varsity program at Northland in 1982, where he helped lead his team to three national tournaments for small colleges finishing in the top five in all three appearances. After Northland, he continued to play at the semi-professional level in Chicago and then Seattle. In 2004, Kirsten was inducted into the Northland College Athletic Hall of Fame.
After his playing career, Kirsten started coaching in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He was the head coach for St. Michael's High School and Capitol Soccer Club for five years. At the end of his time in New Mexico, Kirsten began coaching for the New Mexico Olympic Development Program. When he moved back to Wisconsin he helped start the Chequamegon Bay Soccer Club and high school soccer programs for Washburn High School and has been coaching there since 2001.
