Karen Ferguson is one of the most successful players in the history of the UConn women’s soccer program. As a member of the team from 1990-93, she led the squad to four NCAA tournaments, including one national championship game.  She was a three time All-American and a member of the United States National women’s team from 1992-93. 

Ferguson has applied her skill in soccer even after graduation, serving as an assistant coach for several different teams in the years immediately following her graduation. Today, she is the head coach for the women’s team at Louisville University.

Serving as the head coach at Louisville since 2000, she has quickly become the winningest head coach in school history, having won 56 games since her arrival and improving the team’s win-loss record every year.

In 2006, she led the team to its most successful season in school history, winning 13 games and achieving their first ever national ranking, peaking at number 15. In 2007, Ferguson again coached her team to a 13-win season, continuing the program’s success since her arrival.

When asked how she was able to take the program from virtual obscurity into the national picture in just a few short years, Ferguson said, “There is definitely no secret- it is a vision that you create and live every day to fulfill!  The vision I was able to create at the University of Louisville is a by-product of the experiences I had at UConn. Seeing and feeling the success we had at UConn motivated me to help our student-athletes have those same experiences. In no way, shape or form are we even close to where I want the program to be - but with that said - I am very proud of how far we have come. I feel that a lot of the success we are having at Louisville is a tribute to my experiences as a student-athlete, graduate student intern and an assistant coach at UConn - I am truly grateful for every one of them.”

Concerning her choice to attend UConn following high school, Ferguson said, “When I was going through the college search process, UConn was then, and still is now, a very elite program so it was attractive right from the start. I was also familiar with Lenny (Tsantiris) as a coach because he was actively involved in the Olympic Development program at the time. I knew I wanted to play at one of the top schools in the country athletically, be able to get a very good education, as well as be close to home. UConn fit all of those criteria!” 

UConn certainly did prove to be an elite program, especially during her freshman year when they went to the national semifinals in the NCAA soccer tournament, which she considers to be one of her favorite moments with the UConn team along with defeating national powerhouse team North Carolina.

“My absolute greatest moment at UConn was my freshman year when we beat UNC 3-2 at UConn and broke their ridiculous 107 game unbeaten streak.  UNC was also a school that I was considering to attend but they did not recruit me as hard as UConn did so it was a little personal revenge as well.  We also went to the national finals that year and that ranks up there with beating UNC.” 

During her time with the soccer team, Ferguson played as a mid-fielder, tallying 53 points (18 goals and 17 assists), an extremely impressive number for someone at her position, in her four years. In 1992, she was named as a team Most Valuable Player by Soccer America Magazine, an award given to just 11 players nationally. 

From 1995-96, Ferguson utilized her soccer knowledge as an assistant coach at Boston University and in 1997 she returned to her alma mater as an assistant coach.  In 1998 she was named the top assistant for the UConn women’s team, a position that she held for two years before being offered the head coaching vacancy at Louisville in 2000, where she is coaching to this day.  Ferguson has also worked with several youth teams, including the USA U-21 team in 2004, when she served as an assistant coach during the team’s run to its sixth consecutive Nordic Cup title.

Ferguson currently resides in Louisville, Kentucky and will be getting married this May to Hylton Dayes, the men’s soccer coach at the University of Cincinnati.

-Stephen Byrne