The 2008 season marks Lauren Molinaro's third season with the URI women's soccer program. Molinaro joined the Rams in 2006, bringing with her a solid coaching background as well as extensive training as an educator. From winning a goal medal in the 1999 Pan American Games with the under-20 women's national team, playing in the finals of the NCAA tournament with national powerhouse UConn, and being drafted to the Bay Area (San Jose) Cyber Rays professional team, to teaching classes at Connecticut's Manchester High School and counseling students at East Hartford Middle School, Molinaro's experiences and skills mesh well with the goals and direction Rhode Island women's soccer program. As a student-athlete at the University of Connecticut, Molinaro was a four-time Scholar-Athlete Award recipient and captained the Huskies her senior year. She also received the Outstanding Senior Scholar-Athlete Award and earned All-American Scholar-Athlete accolades as a senior. She spent her fifth year with the Huskies on the sidelines as a graduate assistant coach. After juggling the rigorous five-year Education curriculum, Molinaro left Storrs in May of 2002 with a 3.7/4.0 GPA, a Bachelor's Degree in Secondary Education and a Master's of Education. She took that knowledge, along with the experience she gained as a counselor/researcher at East Hartford Middle School (during her fifth year at UConn), to Manchester (Conn.) High School, where she began teaching Global Issues and World History. On the coaching side, Molinaro has been a Region 1 staff coach since 2003 and has assisted with camps at a handful of the nation's best soccer schools, including the University of Connecticut, the University of North Carolina and University of Kansas. She also directed the varsity program in her time at Manchester High School and has coached the NEU U14, U15 and U16 premier teams since 2001. updated: 7/10/08