Thursday’s men’s soccer game was special for both Eastern and its opponent Incarnate Word.

Not only was it the first home game since August for Eastern, but it was the first game back in Charleston for Kiki Lara, the current Incarnate Word head coach and former head coach of Eastern men’s and women’s soccer.

“I have nothing but pride and love for this place,” Lara said after Incarnate Word’s 4-1 victory over Eastern. “[Returning] meant a lot.”

Lara’s third son was born in Charleston, and many community members, players he used to coach, and alumni were at the game to see him.

“I have a lot of love for EIU and it’s just a real honor to come back,” Lara said.

Lara was named head coach of Eastern’s men’s soccer team on March 10, 2015, spending five seasons with the Panthers. During that time, he helped guide Eastern to three consecutive Summit League tournament appearances, in 2016, 2017 and 2018. The 2016 appearance was the program’s first since 2009.

Lara wasn’t just the men’s coach, however, serving as the head coach of Eastern women’s soccer in 2016 and 2017. Jake Plant took over the women’s program in 2018 and held that position for five seasons until he joined Incarnate Word for the 2023 season.

Before Plant though, Lara was on double duty.

“I do have a lot of respect for Kiki [Lara] in terms of what he did here,” Eastern head coach Josh Oakley said. “[Coaching both men’s and women’s soccer] is unheard of. The amount of stress and the willingness to do that and to keep the program afloat, I give him a lot of credit for that.”

Prior to 2015, Lara was an assistant coach at Dayton University from 2009 to 2014. In 2013, he was named the assistant coach of the year for the mid-atlantic region by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America.

Lara played soccer semi-professionally for the Portland Timbers before the team became a member of Major League Soccer and the Minnesota Thunder.

He helped the Thunder reach the quarterfinals of the 2004 US Open Cup and the semi finals of the 2005 US Open Cup. He was named community player of the year twice, once in 2005 with the Thunder and again in 2007 with the Timbers.

During his collegiate career, Lara played four years at Incarnate Word, then a division II school, from 2000-2004. During that time period, the Cardinals won 58 games, lost 15, and drew six of them.

Lara was the Heartland Conference most valuable player three times and Heartland male student-athlete of the year his senior season, also being voted as the Incarnate Word student-athlete of the year in 2002 and 2003.

So when an opportunity to coach at his alma mater presented itself in 2019, Lara accepted.

“Coaching UIW is an honor for me,” Lara said. “Being back with family was really important to the family and I. It’s a blessing. It’s god’s blessing and I think that way and treat it that way every day.”

Gabe Newman can be reached at 581-2812 or at ghnewman@eiu.edu.