Former Eastern York girls' soccer coach Chrissy Crumling speaks to her team in 2002. Crumling stepped down as coach after more than a decade in charge, in order to spend more time with her three sons. (Daily Record/Sunday News -- file)
York, PA - Chrissy Crumling graduated from Eastern York in 1994 as a member of the boys' soccer team and retired after this spring as the only girls' soccer coach at the school.

That, of course, will change this fall with longtime assistant Brian Lyle taking over the girls' program.

Lyle was approved earlier this month to succeed Crumling, who said her decision to step down was to spend more time with her three sons, Jake, 9, Max, 7, and Wes, 4.

She will continue teaching fifth grade at Canadochly Elementary School in the district, a job she returned to on a full-time basis two years ago. At the time she knew, sooner or later, soccer would lose out to her sons. That realization came this past spring.

"I knew it was going to be tough to pull off another season. I guess you could say I hold myself to a high standard as a mom, and it wasn't acceptable when I missed four lacrosse games in a row," said Crumling, referring to her two oldest sons.

While Crumling will continue to teach, she did not rule out an eventual return to coaching but said, "It may be a long time since my youngest is 4."

She credited her ability to remain as the girls' soccer coach the last two years to her husband, Eric, who's also an Eastern York graduate, played soccer at the school and currently coaches junior high girls' basketball.

"He knew what it takes and what it meant to me," she said.

So did Lyle, 55, who coached as an assistant when Crumling played boys' soccer in the early '90s. When Eastern began its girls' program on an exhibition basis in 2000, Lyle applied to be the head coach. It was not until he discovered Crumling also applied for the job that he yielded, knowing his former player was best suited for the new job.

The second time around, however, he could not deny his excitement to now take the job.

"With Chrissy coming in as a young coach, I got to help mentor her and it helped me grow as a coach," he said.

He takes over a program coming off its third straight YAIAA Division III title but will move up to Division II. Lyle thinks the change in competition will help, particularly in playing competition outside of York County and on the postseason level.

Preparation will be short, though, as girls' soccer transitions from a spring sport to the fall. Many schools, including Eastern, are already conducting voluntary workouts with practice officially set to begin Aug. 13.

That quick turnaround was something Crumling said also factored into her decision to retire from coaching now since it would have taken away more time with her family.

"It was tough to step down," she said. "It was real hard to walk away from my juniors, and they really tugged at my heart strings."

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