Lauren Gregg (born July 20, 1960) is an American soccer coach and retired soccer player who played as a defender or

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. She made one appearance for the

United States women's national soccer team The United States women's national soccer team (USWNT) represents the United States in international women's soccer. The team is the most successful in international women's soccer, winning four Women's World Cup titles ( 1991, 1999, 2015, an ...

in 1986. She was the first-ever female assistant coach for any of the United States' national teams between 1987 and 2000, and was interim head coach of the

in 1997 and 2000. As head coach of the women's soccer team at the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United States, with highly selective ad ...

from 1986 to 1995, Gregg was the first woman to lead a team to the NCAA Division I Final Four and to be named

NSCAA The United Soccer Coaches (formerly known as the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA)) is an organization of American soccer coaches founded in 1941. It is the largest soccer coaches organization in the world, with more than ...

Coach of the Year. Gregg is a physician, as well as the co-author of ''The Champion Within: Training for Excellence''.

Playing career

Gregg attended

Wellesley High School Wellesley High School is a public high school in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States, educating students on grades 9 through 12. The principal is Jamie Chisum, who took the position in 2014 after the departure of Andrew Keough. As of 2022 ...

, where she competed in

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

and

lettered Calligraphy (from el, link=y, καλλιγραφία) is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instrument. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "t ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

field hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ...

, and soccer. She had played field hockey until soccer was offered at the school. Gregg attended

Lehigh University Lehigh University (LU) is a private research university in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. The university was established in 1865 by businessman Asa Packer and was originally affiliated with the Epi ...

and began playing for the women's soccer team, which only had club status. She later tried out for the men's

junior varsity Junior varsity (often called "JV") players are the members of a team who are not the main players in a competition (such as any football, basketball, or baseball game), usually at the high school level–– and formerly at the collegiate level� ...

soccer team and earned a place in the squad. She was also a member of the women's varsity

and

lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensiv ...

teams at the school. After two years, she was admitted on a one-year visiting student status to

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

. She played for the

Harvard Crimson The Harvard Crimson are the intercollegiate athletic teams of Harvard College. The school's teams compete in NCAA Division I. As of 2013, there were 42 Division I intercollegiate varsity sports teams for women and men at Harvard, more than ...

women's team in 1980, which finished third at the

AIAW The Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) was founded in 1971 to govern collegiate women's athletics in the United States and to administer national championships (see AIAW Champions). It evolved out of the Commission on Interc ...

women's soccer tournament, and scored ten goals for the team. Gregg was chosen as a First Team

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

n in 1981, and was included in the ACC All-Conference Team and the All-Region Team. After her visiting student term had ended at Harvard, Gregg enrolled at the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...

in 1981. She played for the North Carolina Tar Heels women's soccer team in 1981 and 1982. She helped North Carolina win the AIAW championship in 1981, and the first NCAA championship in 1982. During her college career, she scored 20 goals and recorded 14 assists in 44 games for the Tar Heels. Gregg was selected as an

Third Team All-American and was included in the

All-Tournament Team in 1981, and in both seasons was selected in the ACC All-Conference Team and the All-Region Team. She was also included in the Academic All-America third team in 1983, and received the Marie James Award, a postgraduate scholarship. Gregg earned one cap for the

in 1986.

Coaching career

Gregg was the head coach for the women's soccer team at the

from 1986 to 1995. During her tenure, she led the team to the NCAA Final Four in 1991 and seven consecutive NCAA tournament bids from 1988 to 1994. In 1990, she was named the

Coach of the Year becoming the first woman to receive the honor. She was also the first woman to lead a team to the NCAA Division I Final Four. She was an assistant coach for the United States women's national team that won the

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phi ...

and

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

Women's World Cups and gold at the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

. Gregg served as head coach for the United States under-21 women's national soccer team and guided the team to Nordic Cup championship titles in 1997 and 1999. She was interim head coach of the U.S. national team for one match in 1997 against

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

(which finished as a 6–1 win) as

Tony DiCicco Anthony D. DiCicco Jr. (August 5, 1948 – June 19, 2017) was an American soccer player and coach and TV commentator. He is best known as the coach of the United States women's national soccer team from 1994 to 1999, during which time the team wo ...

missed the match due to a family commitment. She again served as the interim head coach for three games in 2000 at the Australia Cup after DiCicco stepped down. In 2007, Gregg was inducted into the Virginia–D.C. Soccer Hall of Fame for meritorious service.

Personal life

Gregg was born in Rochester, Minnesota, to James Alan Gregg and Veronica Anne "Ronnie" Nowick, and has four siblings. At the age of ten, her family moved to

Wellesley, Massachusetts Wellesley () is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. Wellesley is part of Greater Boston. The population was 29,550 at the time of the 2020 census. Wellesley College, Babson College, and a campus of Massachusetts Bay Communit ...

. She graduated summa cum laude with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries between ...

from the

in 1983, and earned a

Master of Education The Master of Education (MEd or M.Ed. or Ed.M.; Latin ''Magister Educationis'' or ''Educationis Magister'') is a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. This degree in education often includes the following majors: curriculum a ...

from

in 1985. Her daughter, Meilin Gregg, also is a member of the North Carolina Tar Heels women's soccer team.

Career statistics

International

Honors

Player

Harvard Crimson * AIAW Women's Soccer Tournament third place: 1980 North Carolina Tar Heels * AIAW Women's Soccer Tournament: 1981 *

NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Championship The NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Championship, sometimes known as the Women's College Cup, is an American college soccer tournament conducted by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), and determines the Division I women's national ...

: 1982 United States * North America Cup: 1986 Individual * First Team

n: 1980 *

Third Team

n: 1981 * ACC All-Conference Team: 1980, 1981, 1982 * All-Region Team: 1980, 1981, 1982 *

All-Tournament Team: 1981 * Academic All-America Third Team: 1983

Coach

United States (as assistant coach) * FIFA Women's World Cup:

; third place:

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

* Women's Olympic Tournament: 1996 United States U21 * Nordic Cup: 1997, 1999; runner-up: 1998 Individual * ACC Coach of the Year: 1989 * NSCAA Coach of the Year: 1991 * South Region Regional Coach of the Year: 1991

References

External links

NSCAA Academy profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gregg, Lauren 1960 births Living people Sportspeople from Rochester, Minnesota Soccer players from Minnesota People from Wellesley, Massachusetts Sportspeople from Norfolk County, Massachusetts Soccer players from Massachusetts American women's soccer players United States women's international soccer players Lehigh University alumni Harvard Crimson women's soccer players North Carolina Tar Heels women's soccer players Women's association football defenders Women's association football midfielders Female association football managers American women's soccer coaches Virginia Cavaliers women's soccer coaches United States women's national soccer team managers Harvard Graduate School of Education alumni