Don D'Ambra (born May 5, 1972, in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

) is a retired American

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

who formerly coached the

Saint Joseph's University Saint Joseph's University (SJU or St. Joe's) is a Private university, private Jesuits, Jesuit university in Philadelphia, Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania, and Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The university was founded by the Jesuits, Society of J ...

men's soccer team.

Player

Youth

D'Ambra graduated from

Northeast Catholic High School Northeast Catholic High School opened in 1926 as Northeast Catholic High School for Boys, and was located at 1842 East Torresdale Avenue, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was under the administration of the high school system of the Roman Catho ...

where he is a charter member of the North Catholic Soccer Hall of Fame. He then attended

, playing soccer there from 1990 to 1994. He scored 41 goals and 102 points during his career, setting school records in both categories. He additionally holds school records for goals in a season with 15, and points in a season with 38. He is the only player from Saint Joseph's ever to be named

Atlantic 10 The Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10) is a collegiate athletic conference whose schools compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Division I. The A-10's member schools are located mostly on the East Coast and Midwest of the ...

player of the year.

Professional

He began his professional career with the

Milwaukee Wave The Milwaukee Wave are an American professional indoor soccer team based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, that competes in the Major Arena Soccer League (MASL). Founded in 1984, they have been the oldest continuously operating professional indoor footbal ...

of the National Professional Soccer League in 1994. He was a 1994–1995 All Rookie forward. In 1995, D'Ambra spent the outdoor season with the Chicago Stingers of the

USISL The United States Interregional Soccer League (USISL) was a semi-professional men's outdoor soccer league that played six seasons from 1989 to 1994. It was the first outdoor league to be operated by the organization known today as the United ...

. In 1995, he left the Wave for the

Philadelphia KiXX The Philadelphia KiXX were a professional indoor soccer team based in Philadelphia, USA. The team competed as an National Professional Soccer League II, NPSL expansion franchise and then played in the Major Indoor Soccer League (2008–14), Major ...

' inaugural season. From 1996 to 2002, he was solely a player for the Kixx, but from 2002 to 2010, he assumed a head coaching role as well. He currently holds all-time club records for games played (436), points (1020), goals (380), and game winning goals (42). He has reached the 100 point plateau three different seasons, including a career high in 1997–1998. In 1997 and 1998, D'Ambra played for the

Hershey Wildcats Hershey Wildcats were a professional soccer team, based in Hershey, Pennsylvania, United States, that played in the USL A-League between 1997 and 2001. The team was owned by Hershey Entertainment and Resorts Company. The team played in Hershey ...

in the

USISL A-League The USL First Division (USL-1) was a professional men's soccer league in the second tier of the United States league system. It was organized by the United Soccer League as its premier league for men from 1996 to 2010, above the USL Second Di ...

. He also returned during the 2009–2010 indoor season to play nine games for the KiXX.

Futsal

In 2003, D'Ambra joined the United States men's national futsal team and continued to play for it through the 2008 Pan American Games.U.S. National Futsal Team to Play in Futsal Goal Cup in December in Anaheim

Coach

On October 24, 2002, he was appointed interim head coach of the

from the Major Indoor Soccer League. On December 3, he was officially named the club's third head coach, succeeding

Omid Namazi Omid Namazi (; born December 8, 1964) is an Iranian-American former professional soccer player and coach. Namazi is a USSF “Pro” coaching license holder. Namazi played professionally as a defender in the American Soccer League, American P ...

. From 2002 to 2010, he served as a player-coach for the squad, amassing a club record 111 wins. He led the 2007 squad to an MISL championship. On April 15, 2010, he was named head men's soccer coach at

References

External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20100423193334/http://www.sjuhawks.com/sports/m-soccer/mtt/dambra_don00.html * https://web.archive.org/web/20090906130311/http://kixxonline.com/team/frontoffice/?staff_id=11
Saint Joseph's Hawks bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:D'Ambra, Don 1972 births American men's futsal players American soccer coaches American men's soccer players Chicago Sockers players Futsal players at the 2007 Pan American Games Hershey Wildcats players Milwaukee Wave players National Professional Soccer League (1984–2001) coaches National Professional Soccer League (1984–2001) players Pan American Games footballers for the United States Philadelphia KiXX players Saint Joseph's Hawks men's soccer coaches Saint Joseph's Hawks men's soccer players Soccer players from Philadelphia Living people USISL players Men's association football forwards 20th-century American sportsmen