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Lawrence added, “I am very excited and honored to be coaching at Defiance College. President Wood and Athletic Director Kaiser have a clear vision and plan of where they desire the college and athletic programs to be in the next few years. The facilities, amenities and staff are in place at Defiance for me to build a very competitive soccer program. The previous coaches have done a wonderful job here and have left both programs on very solid ground with success, numbers and player commitment. I hope to build upon their success and look forward to the coming season.”
Lawrence comes to DC after serving as the head coach for the men’s and women’s soccer teams at Bethany College over the past year and has also spent time coaching at the University of Findlay as well as the Queen’s Park Football Club in Glasgow, Scotland. Lawrence also boasts three years of head coaching experience at the high school and club levels.
Kaiser added, “Coach Lawrence brings a wide range of varying competition levels of knowledge and skill to the position.”
Lawrence boasts numerous coaching accolades, including National Soccer Coaches Association of America Advanced National and State Goalkeeping Diplomas as well as a National D License from the United States Soccer Federation.
In 2003, while serving as the assistant coach at the University of Findlay, Lawrence helped guide the men’s squad to a Great Lakes Region Championship, an appearance in the NCAA Division II Final Four and a final ranking of No. 5 in the NSCAA Division II national poll.
Lawrence will be taking the reigns of a pair of promising programs at Defiance which are returning some of the top talents from a year ago. On the men’s side, rising juniors Karl Eustache (13 points) and Benjamin Hughes (nine points) will join rising senior Jared Gray (10 points) to form a dangerous and experienced scoring unit in 2006. The trio were the top three scorers on the 2005 team which closed the year by winning its final three regular season contests and posted a 4-3 mark in the Heartland Conference.
The story is much the same for a DC women’s program which ended the 2005 regular season with a 5-3 mark over its last eight matches and posted a winning record of 4-3 in HCAC action. The Lady Yellow Jackets also won five of nine games on their home turf and will return the top two scorers from a year ago. Rising senior Deirdre Trujillo led DC with 24 points during her junior campaign, while rising junior Michelle Kavanagh piled up 21 points as a sophomore.
“Through the past four to five years, we have developed two positive soccer programs at Defiance,” Kaiser said. “I have every expectation that Coach Lawrence will be able to continue our drive towards success in soccer at DC.”
Lawrence and his Yellow Jacket squads with begin the 2006 campaign with a double-header in the season-opening Defiance Classic on Sept. 2. The women will host Dominican at 3:30 pm with the men following with a match against Denison at 5:30 pm.
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