SANDY, Utah (Friday, February 7, 2020) – Utah Royals FC has hired Louis Lancaster and Caitlin Young as the final members of the technical staff under newly-appointed Head Coach Craig Harrington for the 2020 National Women’s Soccer League season. Meanwhile, Assistant Coach Amy LePeilbet has been promoted to Director of Professional Development.
After successfully leading Utah Royals FC Reserves to the Women’s Professional Soccer League championship game in their first season LePeilbet has been promoted to Director of Professional Development. In addition to continuing on as an Assistant Coach and as the Reserves Head Coach, LePeilbet will oversee the final piece in the development pathway, working with local talent and universities to identify talent and help grow them into potential professionals for Royals FC. Additionally, she will work to develop individual development plans for members of the Reserves and First Team to ensure all players are reaching maximum potential.
In this role LePeilbet will also, with the help of Young, construct and establish the entirety of the Utah Royals FC development pathway. As a development coach LePeilbet has seen great success this past year, many members of the Reserves went on to have standout seasons with their respective colleges, three of whom recently were recognized as All-Americans - Mikayla Colohan, Elise Flake and Alyssa Jefferson.
“We are very delighted with the additions of Louis and Caitlin, they each bring with them unique sets of expertise that will help us achieve our goal of becoming the best club in this league and the world,” Harrington said. “Louis is an imaginative coach who has a breadth of knowledge for the game from the youth all the way up to the professional level and Caitlin has extensive experience working with youth growth that will benefit us greatly in our quest to establish a true development pathway.”
Lancaster will serve as an Assistant Coach, while Young will play dual-role as an Assistant Coach for the first team and as the club’s first-ever Utah Royals FC Youth Technical Director. They join current assistants LePeilbet, Goalkeeper Coach Jason Batty and Sports Performance Coach Andrew Wiseman as the final pieces of Harrington’s coaching staff for the 2020 season.
“We are very excited to announce these additions to the Utah Royals FC coaching staff,” URFC General Manager Stephanie Lee said. “Their expertise and experiences are going to lend to the growth and development of the Royals organization, building a true pathway from youth to becoming a professional soccer player in the state of Utah.”
Lancaster, 38, comes to Utah after three years with the Chinese Taipei National Team which represents Taiwan in international football. This past year Lancaster was promoted to Head Coach where he led the team to the Second Round of the Asian Football Confederation 2022 World Cup Qualification. Prior to that he spent a season as an assistant coach for Shanghai Shenxin FC of China League 1.
Before moving to Asia Lancaster had an extensive career in English youth development. From 2008 to 2016 Lancaster spent time as an academy coach in the Arsenal, Portsmouth FC and Watford systems. During his time at Watford he supervised the development of Jadon Sancho, current member of Borussia Dortmund and the England National Team.
Lancaster holds a UEFA Pro License, the highest coaching license in Europe.
Young joins Royals FC from a much different avenue, having spent her entire career in Utah, building and growing youth development programs. Most recently she was the Director of Coaching for Utah Celtic FC a program that saw four members of Utah Royals FC Reserves work their way through the system - Flake, Katie Haskins, Calry Nelson and Cameron Tucker.
She also has held positions as a scout for the U.S. Soccer Youth National Team and as a member on them Utah Youth Soccer Player Development Committee, as well as Head Coach for the Utah ODP/State Select team.
Young holds a U.S. Soccer Federation A License.
As Youth Technical Director Young will create and deliver programming that serves as the entryway for youth into the Royals FC Development Pathway to the professional level. Part of this role includes managing the Utah development program, as well as finding and developing coaches through the Wasatch Front.
Utah Royals FC season tickets are on sale now at UtahRoyalsFC.com or by calling 844.REAL.TIX. The club is preparing for the start of its third season in the National Women’s Soccer League.
