After spending two seasons away from the program, Nikki Elsaesser returns to the Messiah women’s soccer program as an assistant coach in 2018 after graduating from Messiah College in 2016.
During her playing career, Elsaesser was a part of Falcon teams that made the NCAA Tournament all four seasons, reaching the sectional semifinals in 2013, sectional final in 2014, final four in 2015, and winning the program’s fifth and most recent National Championship as a freshman in 2012. During her four seasons, Messiah sported a record of 88-4-8 overall and a 33-0-1 mark in the MAC Commonwealth. Her 100 games played as a Falcon ties for fifth in program history.
As a forward, Elsaesser earned First Team All-Conference in all four of her years and was named the MAC Commonwealth Offensive Player of the Year three-straight years ('13, '14, '15). In addition to her All-Conference honors, she earned All-Region and All-America nods in her final three seasons, capping off her career as the National Player of the Year in 2015.
Elsaesser finished with career totals of 213 points, 85 goals, and 43 assists, each of those marks currently place second in Messiah women's soccer program history. In 2015 she set the program record for points in a season with 77, scoring 31 goals and dishing out 15 assists. She is one of just two players (Erin Hench '12) in program history with at least 40 goals and 40 assists in their career.