When it comes to elite, there are few teams that personify the definition better than the United States Women's National Soccer Team. A quick look at the numbers tells the story of just how dominant they have been over the last 25-plus years. Since 1991, the team has finished no worse than third in any FIFA World Cup and has won the championship a record four times, including the 2019 Cup just this past July, defeating the Netherlands 2-0 to claim the title for the second-straight time. They have also dominated on the world's grandest stage at the Olympics, claiming four gold medals and one silver medal in six tries.
Behind stellar play from the athletes of the past such as Mia Hamm and Michelle Akers to modern day stars like Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe, the U.S. Women's National Team has inspired millions of fans over the years and has set the standard for what women's sports can achieve. The team is universally recognized for their play and is considered one of the most dominant teams of any sport in the world, regardless of gender.
The winning culture that the national team has built did not happen overnight, but it has endured throughout the years and continues to resonate to this day.
Before the likes of the Rapinoes and Morgans became international stars on the grand stage, they were all athletes playing for a different kind of cup – the College Cup. Many women's college soccer programs have built similar reputations as the national team with their winning cultures. Schools like the University of North Carolina and the University of Florida have won multiple college cups and produce professional players on a regular basis. These programs have deep and storied histories that have existed for years, but the real challenge is for a program to start from the ground up and build a winning culture from scratch. Every program strives to do this, but few are successful. To be successful requires the proper coaching, players that are willing to buy into the program and the willingness to accept the change that it is not going to happen overnight. San Jose State is one of those few schools that have successfully built themselves into a winning program.
In 2014, the Spartans made a hire that changed the program. They went after a former Women's National Team member in Lauren Hanson, a two-time College Cup Champion as both a player and coach at the University of Portland. Hanson had last served as the University of Oregon's Associate Head Coach from 2009-2011 before agreeing to become the Spartans' new coach.
Three years prior to Megan Rapinoe dominating at the collegiate level at the University of Portland, Hanson herself had an illustrious college career with the Pilots as a four-year centerback and member of three teams that played for the NCAA Women's College Cup. In 2002, serving as team captain, Hanson, then Lauren Orlandos, led the Pilots all the way as they won the College Cup Championship for the first time in program history. She concluded her career as a two-time West Coast Conference Defensive Player of the Year, was a three-time All-WCC First Team selection and was a finalist for the 2002 MAC/Hermann Trophy for National Player of the Year.
Hanson then returned to the pinnacle of college women's soccer as she helped lead the Pilots to yet another College Cup Championship as an assistant coach in 2005. The team finished the season undefeated at 23-0-2.
When she received the call to become the new head coach at San Jose State, Hanson immediately sought to bring a winning culture with her. She saw the potential and knew she could achieve the goal in due time.
"My number one goal when I got here was to change the culture here," Hanson said. "They (the players) didn't believe in themselves and obviously had a challenging time before, so we set out to do that and did just that. I think we are in a really positive place right now in that culture. Every year you have to continue build on that one year after the next because every team is different. That's the challenge of coaching and that's what is fun about it."
Her first season at the helm saw the Spartans blow preseason expectations out of the water as they finished the year 8-8-3. The following season, they jumped up the ladder of expectations again, winning a then-program record eight conference games en route to winning the 2015 Mountain West Tournament Title, the first MW Championship won by any SJSU program since joining the conference, and earning a berth to the NCAA Tournament for just the second time in program history. The championship run earned Hanson the first of two Mountain West Coach of the Year awards.
In 2017, Hanson led the Spartans to a program-record 9-1-1 mark in conference play as they claimed the first Mountain West regular season title in program history. Hanson once again was named the conference coach of the year for this performance.
By 2018, SJSU had already proven itself to be among the best teams in the Mountain West after just four seasons under Hanson's guidance. Despite a slow start to the beginning of the 2018 campaign, the Spartans once again took care of business in conference play and went on to defend their home turf at the Mountain West Tournament to win their second MW Tournament Championship title and another trip to the NCAA Tournament.
The turnaround that Hanson has orchestrated has caught the eyes of many, especially that of San Jose State Director of Athletics, Marie Tuite.
"What's been especially exciting for me is watching Lauren grow as a head coach. This is her first head coach experience," Tuite said. "When you think about what she has accomplished over the last five seasons, it's just incredible. She's set the standard for all 22 of our programs. She's got great kids on her team, they are great students and they are winning Mountain West Championships.
"I think it's pretty cool when your head football coach (Brent Brennan) says that he wants to be like the women's soccer program," Tuite added.
When the dust settles and you look back at what Lauren Hanson and her staff have achieved in just five short years, it really is remarkable to see what a turnaround the program has made. Once a middle-of-the-pack team, the Spartans are now a perennial powerhouse in the Mountain West. Hanson has compiled a school-record 35 regular-season conference wins in those five years. In the last four years alone she has 30 wins, more than any other coach in the 12-team league. The Spartans are also the only team to finish in the top four in the final MW standings in each of the last four seasons.
Despite that success, the one thing that has eluded Hanson's Spartans so far is a national ranking. That's something that Hanson has her sights on and feels is an achievable goal.
"When players come in and they see our program, we talk a lot about being in the top 25," Hanson said. "I think for our program and for the players that just walked onto campus and are now competing in training camp, it's about 'let's be in the top 25 and how do we get there?'"
Remarkably, Hanson is already nearing win No. 50 of her Spartan career. She currently holds an all-time record of 49-35-15 and is on pace to become the third-fastest among current Mountain West women's soccer head coaches to reach the 50-win total. Hanson is also just five wins away from becoming the winningest coach in San Jose State women's soccer history.
Of course, having an elite head coach is not enough for a program to establish a new winning culture. Hanson herself will tell you that she could not have gotten this far without a rock-solid group of assistant coaches and players that were willing to buy into what the coaches were selling. Hanson has built one of the strongest coaching staffs in all of collegiate soccer with assistants Adrianne Fass and Tina Estrada – two women who know a thing or two about winning championships themselves.
Fass came into the program alongside Hanson in 2014 and has been by her side ever since. As a member of the Florida Gators, she made three appearances in the NCAA Tournament and was a member of the 1998 squad that won the College Cup.
Estrada was a four-year star at Santa Clara University, leading the Broncos to the NCAA Tournament each season. As an assistant coach at DePaul for six seasons, she helped lead the Blue Demons to the Big East Tournament Championship match and NCAA Tournament in 2013. She joined Hanson and Fass prior to the 2018 season and helped them return to the top of the MW and back to the NCAA Tournament.
"I don't really see myself as the person who necessarily created this culture," Hanson said. "I see it as our staff created this culture. It's their personalities that meld with the team and help interact with them and motivate them. They are a huge part, all of us together, in building this. There's not one person that's bigger than another, and I think that's the beauty of this staff."
Including the two trips to the NCAA Tournament with San Jose State, the pair of Fass and Estrada have combined for 11 appearances at the NCAA Tournament. Add in Hanson's five appearances and the Spartans coaching staff has 16 combined trips to the NCAA Tournament and three College Cup Championships as both players and coaches. With first-hand experience like that, it's hard not to see why players want to learn from the trio of coaches.
The coaching staff is filled with a pair of Hanson's former players with Zoe Makrigiannis coaching the goalkeepers and Darriell Franklin serving as the team's director of operations after an incredible four-year run on the pitch. In 2015, with Makrigiannis in the goal and Franklin helping command the offense, the Spartans won their first Mountain West Tournament title.
In addition to being immensely successful, the Spartans coaching staff also holds another interesting distinction. They are one of just two all-female staffs in the Mountain West (joined by Utah State). Hanson herself is one of just three female head coaches in the league.
"What's most important to me is that the student-athletes that I serve are surrounded by good role models," Tuite said of the staff. "It just happens that our women's soccer team is made up of four female staff. I'm very envious of them because they always seem to have so much fun. They're always laughing. Then when they get on the pitch, when it's match time, boy oh boy do they become competitive; almost vicious in a good way, in a positive way. I just love this staff. I love the camaraderie that they have. I love the fact that we have two former student-athletes in Zoe and Darriell both on the staff. I'm just really, really proud of the work that they are doing."
Heading into the 2019 season, Hanson and the Spartans once again have their sights set on championships. They return the majority of one of the most elite backlines in college soccer last season led by starters Kristen Amarikwa and Natasha Harris looking to follow up on their sensational 2018 season in which their unit held opponents to a goals against average of just .620 entering the NCAA Tournament, which ranked among the top-25 in the nation. Hanson feels this team can be just as, if not more successful than that squad and urges fans to come check them out for themselves.
"If you want to be inspired, come out, because this team is inspiring and they work hard every day," Hanson said. "Off the field, they are an amazing group of young women. They are going to be future leaders of our community, within San Jose and even elsewhere. We would love for fans to come out and see them play and be inspired. You feel it when you're out here. You feel it in training and you feel it in the games. That's why I love what I do, because I love to see them come together and connect and how well they play together. Hopefully people can come out and enjoy that too."
Fans can get their first look at the Spartans tonight as they host Saint Mary's for an exhibition beginning at 7:00 p.m. PT at the Spartan Soccer Complex. Admission is free. The 2019 season-opener will be played the following Thursday, August 22, as SJSU welcomes Cal Poly for a home match.
Individual game tickets to women's soccer are on sale now via Ticketmaster Charge-By-Phone at 800-745-3000 or online at Ticketmaster.com. Group ticket inquiries should be made to 408-924-SJTX (7589).
