Hall of Fame
RICARDO “KIKI” LARA
Lara played four years on the soccer pitch for the Cardinals and two of those seasons UIW advanced to the regional finals of the NCAA Division II national tournament. And three of those years the Las Cruces, N.M., native achieved All-American status as a midfielder. Over his four years UIW was a cumulative 58-15-6.
And two times, before he graduated in 2004 magna cum laude in mathematics, he was an Academic All-American. At the regional level twice he was all-region on the field and twice all-region academically.
As the Cardinals, at the time, played in the Heartland Conference Lara was three times conference most valuable player and for his senior year he was the Heartland Male Student-Athlete of the Year.
At Incarnate Word he did something not repeated since. In consecutive years, 2002 and 2003, he was voted the UIW male athlete of the year. And, for those same two years, he was named the Incarnate Word Student-Athlete of the Year, an award with the principal criteria being academics.
After his time at Incarnate Word, Lara got in five seasons of professional soccer with the Minnesota Thunder and the Portland Timbers. While with the Portland club he was named the 2007 Community Player of the Year.
He spent one season as an assistant soccer coach at the University of Washington. Currently he is an assistant coach at the University of Dayton.
