Ricardo "Kiki" Lara (born July 24, 1981, in

Las Cruces, New Mexico Las Cruces (; "the crosses") is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New Mexico and the seat of Doña Ana County. As of the 2020 census the population was 111,385. Las Cruces is the largest city in both Doña Ana County and southern New ...

) is an American former

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

player who last played for the

USL First Division The USL First Division (usually referred to as USL-1) was a professional men's soccer league in the United States and Canada from 2005 to 2010. During its existence, it formed the second tier of soccer in the United States soccer league system b ...

side

Portland Timbers The Portland Timbers are an American professional men's soccer club based in Portland, Oregon. The Timbers compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The Timbers have played their home games at P ...

and currently works as head coach of the

Incarnate Word Cardinals The Incarnate Word Cardinals, also known as UIW Cardinals, are composed of 23 teams representing the University of the Incarnate Word in intercollegiate athletics, including men and women's basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, swimming & div ...

Career

Lara played college soccer in San Antonio, Texas at the University of the Incarnate Word. He captained the team from 2001 to 2003 and was also named a Division II All-American in each of those 3 seasons. In 2004, he joined the

Minnesota Thunder Minnesota Thunder was an American professional soccer team based in Minnesota, United States. Founded in 1990, the team played in the USL First Division (USL-1), the second tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, until 2009. The team played its hom ...

and played 26 games in his inaugural season. He then played 19 times and scored one goal the following campaign.

Coaching career

He started his coaching career in 1995 as coach of the Las Cruces Strikers, a youth soccer club founded by his mother Linda Lara. In 2005 while still a player with the Minnesota Thunder, he also worked as an assistant coach of the

Washington State University Washington State University (Washington State, WSU, or informally Wazzu) is a public land-grant research university with its flagship, and oldest, campus in Pullman, Washington. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest land-grant unive ...

women's soccer program. On June 8, 2009, he was named as an assistant coach for the Dayton Flyers men's soccer team. He was named the head coach of the

Eastern Illinois Panthers The Eastern Illinois Panthers are the intercollegiate athletic programs of Eastern Illinois University (EIU) located in Charleston, Illinois, United States. The Panthers athletic program is a member of the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) and compet ...

men's soccer team on March 10, 2015. Lara was the Eastern Illinois women's soccer head coach for the 2016 and 2017 seasons.

References

External links

Kiki Lara profile
at Player History {{DEFAULTSORT:Lara, Kiki 1981 births Living people Association football midfielders Minnesota Thunder players Sportspeople from Las Cruces, New Mexico Portland Timbers (2001–2010) players Soccer players from New Mexico American soccer coaches American sportspeople of Mexican descent A-League (1995–2004) players USL First Division players Eastern Illinois Panthers men's soccer coaches Incarnate Word Cardinals men's soccer players Dayton Flyers men's soccer coaches American soccer players Incarnate Word Cardinals men's soccer coaches Washington State Cougars women's soccer coaches Eastern Illinois Panthers women's soccer coaches