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Want proof that Sammy Lane enjoys soccer?
He put up Liverpool celebration photos found on the Internet as
his computer wallpaper after Liverpool won the European Cup championship this
past summer.
What more proof? Go to a practice of the Hutchinson Community
College women’s soccer team. There you will find the intense first head coach of
the Lady Dragons teaching the intricacies of soccer to a first-year program.
Lane was hired to be HCC’s first soccer coach on Jan. 13, 2005.
He hit the recruiting trail running. His inaugural class of Lady Dragons has 17
players (15 freshman, 2 sophomore transfers) all from the state of Kansas,
including five from the Hutchinson/Reno County area and seven more from Wichita.
Lane is a native of Ireland. He graduated from high school in 1986 and came to
America to play soccer at Sterling College. After a career as a player and coach
with the Wichita Wings indoor professional soccer team, Lane turned to coaching
youth teams in Wichita.
Lane was the youngest assistant coach in the National
Professional Soccer League. He served as the assistant coach and goalkeeper
coach for the Wichita Wings from 1998 to 2001. The Wings’ record was 56-64 in
his tenure and the team made the NPSL playoffs in each of those seasons.
As his time with the Wings was winding down, Lane became the head
trainer for girls at the River City Soccer Club in Wichita in 2000. He took over
a U15 girls team which has become one of the top teams in the country. The team
is ranked second in Kansas, seventh in the region and 37th in the nation. Two
players from that team made the U.S. Soccer Federation Region II team. Lane’s
U12 boys teams is ranked No. 1 in Kansas, No. 13 in the region and No. 85 in the
country.
In 1996 and 1997, Lane was the head women’s soccer coach at
McPherson College, but that school dropped soccer after 1997.
Lane played for legendary Wichita Wings’ player/coach Kim Roentved as the
back-up goalkeeper from 1993 to 1998. He played at Sterling College all four
years as a goalkeeper, earning all-KCAC honors three times.
The Warriors lost only two KCAC games from 1986-88, going
undefeated in 1987 and 1988. Lane was the team and KCAC Most Valuable Player in
1986. Lane also played tennis at Sterling College.
Lane graduated from Sterling College in 1991 with a degree in
business administration.
Lane was born on Sept. 30, 1968 in Ireland. He and his wife,
Amber, have no children, but a dog named “Murphy.” The couple lives in Wichita.
Lane can be reached at 620-728-8183 or by
e-mail at
lanes@hutchcc.edu.
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