Full name Ricardo Lara Height 1.78 m Role Soccer player | Name Kiki Lara 2000-2004 UIW Cardinals | |
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Date of birth (1981-07-24) July 24, 1981 (age 34) Place of birth Las Cruces, NM, United States Current team Eastern Illinois Panthers (Head coach) 1997-2000 Bollettieri Soccer Academy | ||
Ricardo "Kiki" Lara (born July 24, 1981 in Las Cruces, New Mexico) is a retired American soccer player who last played for the USL First Division side Portland Timbers and currently works as head coach of the Eastern Illinois Panthers.
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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 Divisi9on II All-American in each of those 3 seasons. In 2004, he joined the Minnesota Thunder 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 sister Linda Lara.
In 2005 while still a player with the Minnesota Thunder, he also worked as an assistant coach of the Washington State University 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 men's soccer team on March 10, 2015.