Bio

Shannon DeNinno made an immediate impact on the Tartans women's soccer program upon her arrival in February of 2012 instilling a championship attitude from the onset. Both her playing and coaching experiences was something the players could draw from as the 2012 team made history with its first-ever NCAA appearance.

In DeNinno's first season with the Tartans the team set four school records, marched on to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Championship and finished second in the University Athletic Association (UAA) with a 4-1-2 record. School records set included most wins at 14, fewest losses at one, most shutouts at 13 and most consecutive shutouts at seven, a streak that closed out the season.

DeNinno's second season with the Tartans didn't disappoint as she helped lead the team back to the NCAA tournament and a 9-5-2 overall record in 2013.

In 2014, DeNinno's leadership proved pivitol again as the Tartans won their first-ever UAA Championship and set a new school record for wins with 16. The team returned to the NCAA Championship, winning twice to land in the round of 16 for the second time in three years.

DeNinno's fifth season on the sidelines saw the team win another UAA title and advance to the NCAA Round of 16 for the third time. The 2015 team one-upped the 2014 record-breaking squad by winning a school record 17 games while rising to third in the nation. They bettered the longest winning streak by two games with the record now at 11.

In 2016, the Tartans made their fifth straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament and closed the season ranked 23rd nationally. The team's final record was 11-6-1 with a 5-2 showing in the UAA which sent four teams to the NCAA Tournament where two made the final four.

DeNinno came to Carnegie Mellon after spending the 2010 season as an assistant at the University of Montevallo, a Division II school located in Montevallo, Alabama.  Prior to her arrival at Montevallo, she spent a season as the women’s assistant at Lenoir-Rhyne University in Hickory, North Carolina, where she helped guide the Bears to a #8 national ranking and a 19-2-2 overall record. That same year, Lenoir-Rhyne won the South Atlantic Championship, as DeNinno helped coach two All-Americans, the conference player of the year and freshman of the year.

DeNinno is a 2009 graduate of the University of Tampa with a Bachelor of Arts degree in communications and a minor in graphic design. She earned her master’s degree from Lenoir-Rhyne University in May of 2011 in business administration.

As a player, DeNinno spent three seasons at the University of Tampa, where she won a Division II National Championship in 2007. At Tampa, she was part of a team that compiled a record of 52-7-6 in three seasons and appeared in 41 games. During her time at Tampa, DeNinno was a member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and served as the SAAC President her final year.

DeNinno finished her collegiate eligibility at Lenoir-Rhyne, where she was the team’s third-leading scorer with six goals and seven assists. DeNinno was also a four-year member of the IMG W-League semi-pro team from 2004-07 and spent one season with the WPSL Clearwater Galactics semi-pro team in 2009 and served as team captain.

Besides coaching at Lenoir-Rhyne and Montevallo, DeNinno also served as the Olympic Development Program Girls ’95 assistant coach in North Carolina. Her team advanced to the 2011 Final Four in Arizona.

DeNinno completed the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) Advanced National Diploma during the summer of 2017 after receiving the NSCAA National Diploma for completing the course in San Francisco, California, in 2014. She also holds a NSCAA Advanced Regional Diploma (2009) and participated in the NCAA Women's Coaches Academy in 2013.