Lauren Gregg, a trailblazer in women’s soccer who was an assistant coach on two World Cup champions and an Olympic gold medal team, has been presented the Jerry Yeagley Award for Exceptional Personal Achievement by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA). The award was presented on Saturday, Jan. 16, at the Association’s annual All-America Luncheon, held in conjunction with the 2010 NSCAA Convention in Philadelphia.

Lauren Gregg (right) is presented the Jerry Yeagley Award for Exceptional Personal Achievement by the award’s namesake, the former men’s soccer coach at Indiana University.

The award, named for retired Indiana University men’s soccer coach Jerry Yeagley, is presented to a past or present intercollegiate soccer player who has demonstrated exceptional personal achievement and extraordinary accomplishments that transcend normal expectations and who serves as an example or inspiration to others.

Gregg began playing soccer in her hometown of Wellesley, Mass., playing on her brothers’ teams because no girls teams were organized there until she’d reached the ninth grade. She helped lead Wellesley High School to the first state high school championship game in girls soccer and earned a spot on the first girls high school All-America team.

Her collegiate career led her to Harvard University, where she scored two goals to defeat North Carolina in the first “unofficial” women’s collegiate national championship. She concluded her intercollegiate playing career at North Carolina, where she was a key member of a team that won the first three NCAA women’s national championships. She was a three-time All-America and two-time Academic All-America.

After a stint playing on the U.S. Women’s National Team, she became the first woman to serve as an assistant coach for a U.S. National Team and helped the United States to the first Women’s World Cup title in 1991. She also was a member of the coaching staff for the teams that claimed the gold medal at the Atlanta 1996 Olympic Games and the 1999 Women’s World Cup.

Gregg served as the women’s coach at the University of Virginia from 1986-95, leading the program to seven consecutive NCAA tournament appearances, a No. 1 national ranking and the program’s first College Cup appearance. Along the way she earned NSCAA National Coach of the Year honors, the first time a woman had received the award at the NCAA Division I level. She also was the vice president for player personnel for the Women’s United Soccer Association.

Currently living in Charlottesville, Va., with her two daughters, Gregg holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of North Carolina and a master’s degree in counseling and consulting psychology from Harvard University.

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