St. Margaret's Names Thomas Lancaster as Head Girls Soccer Coach

St. Margaret's Episcopal School is pleased to announce that Thomas Lancaster has been named head coach of the Tartan girls soccer program.

Lancaster has more than 20 years of coaching experience in the United Kingdom and the United States, and currently serves as head coach of the Irvine Valley College women's soccer team since 2022 and as an assistant at Westcliff University in Irvine. Before that, Lancaster was a lead assistant coach for the IVC men's soccer program. During that tenure, IVC won the OEC League in 2015 and finished as runners-up in 2016 and 2017.

"I am honored and excited to join the St. Margaret's community. From the moment I stepped on campus, I felt a truly special energy and a strong commitment to excellence," said Coach Lancaster. "I look forward to working with these talented student-athletes and the dedicated staff to build a successful and rewarding program."

Professionally, Lancaster is currently the head coach of the Women's Premier Soccer League side, Miss Kick FC, which plays in the Los Angeles area. In England, Lancaster played Soccer for Lichfield FC in the Midlands Combination League until 2008 before moving to the United States, where Lancaster has played for LA Strikers (CSL), OC Crew (UPSL), and was a player-coach for the Irvine Matrix (UPSL).

At the high school level, Lancaster served as head coach of the boys' program at Woodbridge High School, leading the Warriors to a Pacific Coast League Championship for the first time in five years in 2019. Prior to Woodbridge, Lancaster was the boys' head coach at Northwood High.

At the club level, Lancaster served as Director of Coaching at Irvine Soccer Academy from 2012 to 2022 and as an assistant in the OC Blues system. He has coached for the Olympic Development Program with the boys 95 age group and won a regional championship in 2012.

Lancaster holds a BSc (Hons) from the University of South Wales in Football Coaching, Development and Administration, as well as his UEFA B Coaching License and USSF National C Coaching License and, is currently working towards his MSc in Advanced Performance Football Coaching.

"It is a pleasure for the St. Margaret's community to announce the hiring of Tom Lancaster as our new head coach for the girls' soccer program. Tom brings over twenty years of high school and college coaching experience to the program, with his most recent success here in Orange County," said St. Margaret's Director of Athletics Dan O'Shea. "We welcome Tom and his family to Tartan Athletics."