Keri Lynn Sanchez (formerly Raygor; born December 25, 1972) is an American

women's soccer Women's association football, more commonly known as women's football or women's soccer, is the team sport of association football played by women. It is played at the professional level in multiple countries, and about 200 national teams partic ...

coach who serves as head coach of the

Colorado College Tigers women's soccer The Colorado College Tigers are composed of 16 teams representing Colorado College in intercollegiate athletics, including men and women's basketball, cross country, lacrosse, soccer, swimming & diving, tennis, and track and field. Men's sports i ...

team. She is also a former player who last played as a defender for

Los Angeles Sol The Los Angeles Sol was an American professional association football, soccer club that was based in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson, California, that participated in Women's Professional Soccer. The team was co-owned and operated by Anschutz E ...

Women's Professional Soccer Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) was the top-level professional women's soccer league in the United States. It began play on March 29, 2009. The league was composed of seven teams for its first two seasons and fielded six teams for the 2011 ...

and the

United States women's national soccer team The United States women's national soccer team (USWNT) represents the United States in international women's soccer. The team is governed by the United States Soccer Federation and competes in CONCACAF (the Confederation of North, Central Ameri ...

Early life and education

Sanchez was a dual sport athlete at

Santa Teresa High School Santa Teresa High School (also referred to as STHS) is a public high school located in the suburban Santa Teresa neighborhood of southern San Jose, California. The school is a member of the East Side Union High School District and serves stude ...

San Jose, California San Jose, officially the City of San José ( ; ), is a cultural, commercial, and political center within Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area. With a city population of 997,368 and a metropolitan area population of 1.95 million, it is ...

, where she also excelled in

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

. At the

CIF California State Meet The CIF California State Meet is the annual championship track and field meet for the California Interscholastic Federation. The meet was started in 1915 for boys and 1974 for girls. Every athlete in every high school in California has a direc ...

, between 1988 and 1990, she achieved three second-place and three third-place finishes spread between

hurdles Hurdling is the act of jumping over an obstacle at a high speed or in a sprint. In the early 19th century, hurdlers ran at and jumped over each hurdle (sometimes known as 'burgles'), landing on both feet and checking their forward motion. Today ...

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

, and

triple jump The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down the tr ...

Playing career

Sanchez played for the Silicon Valley Red Devils of the

USL W-League USL W-League may refer to: * USL W League * USL W-League (1995–2015) The USL W-League was a North American amateur women's soccer developmental organization. The league was a semi-professional, open league, giving college players the oppor ...

and

Women's Premier Soccer League The Women's Premier Soccer League (WPSL) is an amateur women's soccer league in the United States. History The WPSL is the longest-running active women's soccer league as it enters its 25th season in 2023. The WPSL is also the largest women ...

from 1995 to 2000.

College career

Sanchez played for the

North Carolina Tar Heels women's soccer The North Carolina Tar Heels women's soccer team represent the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the Atlantic Coast Conference of NCAA Division I association football, soccer.

team from 1991 to 1994, winning four consecutive

NCAA Division I women's soccer tournament The NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Championship, sometimes known as the Women's College Cup, is an American college soccer tournament conducted by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), and determines the Division I women's natio ...

championships and scoring the championship-winning goals in

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

and

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

International career

Sanchez made 13 appearances for the

, including the

1991 CONCACAF Women's Championship The 1991 CONCACAF Women's Championship was the first staging of the CONCACAF Women's Championship, the international women's association football tournament for North American, Central American and Caribbean nations organized by CONCACAF. The tour ...

Coaching career

While still playing soccer, Sanchez also began coaching the sport as an assistant for the Oregon Ducks women's soccer team in 1996. In 2004, the

NCAA Division III NCAA Division III (D-III) is the lowest division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States. D-III consists of athletic programs at colleges and universities that do not offer athletic scholarships to student- ...

Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Athenas hired Sanchez as its head coach, where she served for 13 years and amassed a record and five NCAA tournament appearances, reaching the Sweet 16 in the 2008 tournament. She served as an assistant coach to

Angela Kelly Mary Angela Kelly, (born 4 November 1957) is a British fashion designer, dressmaker, and milliner, who served as Personal Assistant and Senior Dresser to Queen Elizabeth II from 1993 until the monarch's death in 2022. Her official title was P ...

at the

Texas Longhorns women's soccer The Texas Longhorns women's soccer team represents the University of Texas at Austin in NCAA Division I intercollegiate soccer competition. The Longhorns competed in the Big 12 Conference through the 2024 season and moved to the Southeastern Co ...

team from 2017 to 2020. In May 2021, the Division III

Illinois Wesleyan Titans Illinois Wesleyan University is a private liberal arts college in Bloomington, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1850, the central portion of the present campus was acquired in 1854 with the first building erected in 1856. History The inst ...

women's soccer team hired Sanchez as its head coach. In her only season with the team, the Titans finished with a record. The Colorado College Tigers

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...

women's soccer program hired Sanchez as its head coach in December 2021.

References

External links

Los Angeles Sol player profile

San Jose CyberRays player profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanchez, Keri 1972 births Los Angeles Sol players American women's soccer players American sportspeople of Mexican descent North Carolina Tar Heels women's soccer players Living people USL W-League (1995–2015) players San Jose CyberRays players Soccer players from San Jose, California Track and field athletes from San Jose, California Suzuyo Shimizu FC Lovely Ladies players Nadeshiko League players Expatriate women's footballers in Japan American expatriate women's soccer players Boston Breakers (WUSA) players Women's United Soccer Association players Women's Professional Soccer players American expatriate sportspeople in Japan Women's association football defenders Santa Teresa High School alumni California Storm players Women's Premier Soccer League players United States women's international soccer players Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Stags and Athenas Illinois Wesleyan Titans coaches Colorado College Tigers women's soccer coaches United States women's youth international soccer players