“I want to take this winning team to a new level,” said Piedmont University’s new assistant women’s soccer coach Stephanie Lamm. “My goal is to elevate every aspect of play and make this team unstoppable.” 

Stephanie Lamm is in her first season as assistant coach at Piedmont University. She comes to Piedmont with twenty-two years of soccer experience, since she started playing at the young age of four. Lamm, originally raised in Dallas, Texas but from Jefferson, Georgia also played collegiately at Emmanuel College. As a four year forward starter, Lamm totaled 11 goals and over three thousand minutes at Emmanuel, a division two college in Franklin Springs, GA. After graduating, she was able to further her career in soccer by becoming a coach.

“I worked at Rockford College in Illinois as an assistant graduate coach,” said Lamm. “I learned the dynamic of talking to the players and how to interact with them successfully.”

Lamm coached at Rockford for two years while attending graduate school. She was able to gain experience coaching while also finishing her degree in Sports Management. As a player, Lamm knew how to interact with her teammates, but being a coach calls for a different type of involvement. 

“I never knew how much went into things like recruiting,” Lamm said.  “I got first hand experience watching game highlights, emailing and connecting with these players. I really learned how to be consistent and see new talent to build a successful team.” 

With the help of Rockford’s head coach and Lamm’s hard work, Rockford went from having a six person roster to a twenty-two player roster—- during COVID-19. Lamm worked hard to make connections with new recruits that would last as they came into the college. After being successful at Rockford, Lamm decided to continue her coaching career closer to her family. 

“I went to high school and college in Georgia so I feel extremely lucky to be able to coach here,” Lamm said. “My family lives forty-five minutes from Piedmont, so it really feels like home.”

The homey feel of Piedmont isn’t the only thing Lamm loves about the college. Now as a Piedmont Lion, Lamm has big goals for the team and the upcoming season. 

“What I love about Piedmont is that we have the facilities and the staff that other division 3 programs don’t have,” said Lamm. “We have every reason to continue to be a threat and a strong program.” 

All Piedmont athletic teams have access to the gym including a strength and conditioning coach as well as the athletic training staff. New turf has also been added to the Walker Athletic field which is used by women’s and men’s soccer and lacrosse. As for winning facilities come winning programs which is something the women’s soccer team knows well. 

“As a former forward I want to focus most on our forwards,” said Lamm. “We are winning games but I want to win by even more of a goal difference. Instead of winning by one goal, let’s win by three or four.”

Piedmont women’s soccer are current conference champions of the USA South. After winning the championship game last spring versus Maryville College with a score of 1-0. Spring 2020 the Lady Lions went 9-6-1, 14-7-1 in 2019 and 17-5-1 in 2018. Lamm’s main goals are to elevate the offense and their play.

“I will be doing a lot of transition drills for the offense which will help the forwards attack faster,” said Lamm. “The best way to take the opposing team by surprise is to counter attack fast and get as many players up the field as possible.”

Lamm will be getting the women’s soccer team ready for their conference season which begins on September 25th versus Berea College on the Walker Athletic Field. Until the season starts, the Lady Lions will have four more preseason games to prepare themselves. 

“The team has been extremely focused during practice,” said Lamm. “I love seeing their hard work and I’m excited to see the results on the field.” 

Visit www.piedmontlions.com for the women’s soccer schedule and information on how to support their games!