Lisa Joel
Head Coach
Lisa Joel came to Andover in 1993 after graduating from Amherst College, where she competed for four years in soccer, basketball, and lacrosse, captaining each of these Amherst teams during her senior year. Hired as a Teaching Fellow in Athletics, Joel had the opportunity to step into the assistant coach role in all three varsity sports during her first two years at Andover while also serving as Andover’s Sports Information Director. Throughout the 1990s, Joel continued competing in all three sports locally, playing in the BU summer lacrosse league, a local co-ed soccer league, and a Cambridge-Arlington basketball league. She also met a personal goal of running the Boston Marathon in 1999 as a member of Team Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
In 1998, Joel was appointed the Big Blue girls’ varsity soccer coach. Over the years, the Andover girls’ varsity soccer team (GVS) has won the Class A Prep School championship on four occasions (1998, 2009, 2011, 2015). In 2011, Joel was named the NSCAA New England Private School Coach of the Year.
In addition to coaching varsity soccer at Andover, Joel regularly volunteers with youth sports programs in Andover, coaching elementary and middle school girls’ soccer as well as basketball. In addition to coaching, Joel is the Director of Athletics and has spent 22 years living in dormitories at Andover and serving as an academic advisor to numerous students and as the faculty advisor to the Class of 2016. She is also the faculty advisor for the student club, Campuses Against Cancer. Following a seven-year tenure as Dean of Abbot Cluster, Joel took a sabbatical in 2012 and earned a Masters in Education from Boston University. Joel, her husband Chris, and their three daughters enjoy spending time in the summer at their home in the mountains of Bristol, NH, running, cycling and watching soccer at all levels.
Noureddine El Alam
Assistant Coach
Noureddine El Alam has been coaching soccer for 24 years, 20 of those as a Varsity Head Coach, and 4 as an Assistant, instructing boys, girls, and women at various institutions: Northfield Mount Hermon School, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Sage Hill School, Pacific Ridge School, and of course, Phillips Academy. Noureddine was honored to be named Coach of the Year for the Boys Varsity Soccer Academy League in 2003, 2005, 2006, and 2008. He holds a National License through the United States Soccer Federation and both National and Advanced National Diplomas through the National Soccer Coaches Association of America.
Noureddine played soccer professionally for his home city of Fes, Morocco in the mid-1980s. After he moved to the U.S., he played semi-professionally in Ludlow, Massachusetts and then, later, in Southern California. He was fortunate, in the early 2000s, to play with Blue Star (the Reserve Galaxy team) and with his friend Juergen Klinsmann, the former U.S. National Soccer Head Coach. Noureddine continues to play regularly on various competitive teams.
Coaching is an extension of the classroom. On the field Noureddine looks for teachable moments and learning opportunities to engage student-athletes in meaningful conversations. He sees soccer, or any other sport for that matter, as a vehicle to teach life lessons. So, in addition to teaching the technical, tactical, physical and mental aspects of the game, he tries to impart values such as perseverance, collaboration, sportsmanship, and appreciation of hard work. On top of all that, he shares the joy of soccer. As a lifelong player and fan, he truly loves and enjoys the exhilaration and beauty of the game.