By: Justin Lafleur, Lehigh Sports Communications
 
Soccer is in Lauren Mains' blood.
 
Today, the former standout goalkeeper and 2010 Patriot League Tournament MVP is not only a teacher, but also a soccer coach in her former hometown of Scotch Plains, New Jersey.
 
"After Lehigh, I went into advertising for about a year, then realized I wanted to go back to school," said Mains. "Advertising really wasn't for me. Now, I teach sixth, seventh and eighth grade math, along with special education in Scotch Plains. I'm also the JV soccer coach and help with the goalkeepers on the varsity team. I actually work under the same coach I had when I went to Scotch Plains."
 
At Lehigh, Mains majored in journalism and minored in business, but found herself shifting course pretty quickly.
 
"I got a good education at Lehigh, but really didn't know what I wanted to do," she said. "That's when I decided to go back to school and get my teaching and master's degrees."
 
Mains realized teaching would be a good fit for her personality.
 
"From playing on a team my whole life, I like the camaraderie of working with others towards a common goal of teaching and bettering young people," said Mains. "I love working with kids, helping mold them into young adults. For me, it's a nice balance, it's really rewarding and gives me time to do things like coach, tutor and stuff outside of teaching where I'm still working with kids. Teaching and coaching encompasses everything I want in a career."
 
Even though she didn't study education at Lehigh, Mains' student-athlete experience has helped in her career path.
 
"A lot of teaching and coaching is a self-made schedule, making sure you're checking all the boxes and hitting everything you need to be doing," said Mains. "My student-athlete experience helped instill that work ethic, being able to collaborate with different people.
 
"My Lehigh education also gave me the tools to be able to take everything I learned and apply it to whatever I wanted to do," she continued. "It was an easy transition for me into teaching. I had a lot of math credits from my business classes and was able to smoothly transition into my career now that I love."
 
Mains' career has been significantly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
"Our district opted to do all virtual learning [this fall]," said Mains. "With the virtual teaching and teaching special education, there are some unique challenges. The planning has been a lot more than you're used to on a day-to-day basis, and there are definitely those unique challenges with having to take everything you do and apply it virtually.
 
"For coaching, obviously there are a lot of strict COVID protocols we need to follow to stay as healthy as possible."
 
One part of math Mains admits she enjoys is the "different ways to come up with the correct answer."
 
As she said, "You have some creativity of how you're going to problem solve."
 
In many ways, math is like a soccer season. In soccer, there are many different ways to win games (high scoring, low scoring, different strategies, etc.), but the "correct" answer is to get those victories. How teams reach the goal of a championship can look very different as well.
 
Mains played her part in 2010, finishing with a 1.00 goals against average and 80.2 save percentage to lead the Mountain Hawks to their first-ever Patriot League Championship and NCAA Tournament appearance.
 
"The core seniors and fifth-year seniors had been playing together for three to four years; it was a special group," she said. "Junior year, we just missed the Patriot League Tournament, knew we were right there and probably could have gone really far in the tournament. Everyone went into senior year knowing a championship was our goal and was attainable. We worked really, really hard day in and day out.
 
"We didn't let any losses or obstacles get in our way and we persevered through the whole season," Mains continued. "We never lost sight of the fact we could win that tournament."
 
For Mains, it was like that math program she teaches today which doesn't always have one clear path to the answer. The 2010 Mountain Hawks started the season 1-0-1 before rattling off some wins. Lehigh was 1-1-2 over a four-game stretch in October, prior to a 1-0 win at Lafayette in the regular season finale.
 
It gave the Mountain Hawks momentum heading into the Patriot League Tournament, which featured 1-0 victories over Bucknell and Army.
 
"We went into the Patriot League Tournament knowing we could win," said Mains.
 
Mains played an integral role in those two wins, stopping all 13 shots sent her way to earn Tournament MVP honors.
 
"We were hyper-focused and didn't want to think too far ahead," she said. "I know everyone was very, very excited. I don't think it was until we scored and there were five or six minutes left when the energy started to change from 'we're in this game' to 'we're going to win this.'
 
"It's a feeling you'll never forget," Mains continued. "Playing sports your whole life, you have a lot of memorable moments. It's something to be proud of and knowing we were the first championship in Lehigh women's soccer history, it's an honor to have represented Lehigh that way."
 
Flash forward 10 years and Mains is representing Lehigh as an educator (both as a teacher and coach). She admires the guidance head coach Eric Lambinus was able to provide in his first year at Lehigh.
 
"Coach's first goal was to get a feel for how we played, how we operated as individuals and as a group," said Mains. "He wanted to get to know us personally and he took a lot of effort and care into building relationships with us, helping us be comfortable with him from the beginning. That spring (2010) season, we did a lot of relationship building and he let us know his goals and expectations. It made the transition very smooth.
 
"Coach trusted in us and what we were all about… and we trusted his system of play and his aspirations for the team."
 
Mains admits there was a comfort level among all the coaches, including Erin Iwaskiewicz (a holdover from the previous staff), graduate assistant Amanda Brown and volunteer assistant Lauren Calabrese (who is currently the Mountain Hawks' associate head coach).
 
They say imitation is the best form of flattery, as Mains is taking what she learned from her Lehigh coaches into her own coaching position at Scotch Plains.
 
"We responded really well to [Lambinus'] coaching style," she said. "I try to know the girls personally and forge a connection with them outside of soccer. I always want the girls I coach to evolve not only as players, but also as people. Being able to connect with them on a personal level besides soccer has been beneficial and I've seen a lot of results."
 
It doesn't surprise Lambinus one bit that Mains ended up in education.
 
"From the minute I met Lauren, I knew what made her special was her connection to others," he said. "We use an analogy from Habitudes by Tim Elmore about certain players being a thermometer. It means they have a high level of emotional intelligence and can read the needs of their teammates. Lauren, without question, was that for our 2010 team.
 
"A few games into the 2010 season, we hit a little bit of a lull in our energy in training," Lambinus continued. "Lauren suggested we create Brown vs. White teams and hold competitions through the rest of the season. It was exactly what we needed to raise the standard each day in training.  It was a great read on the team at the moment and perfect solution… exactly what someone in education would do."
 
As Mains has experienced – as a player and coach – success in athletics can come on the field (win-loss column) and off (development as people).
 
Mains knows the intangibles of leadership development played a significant role in Lehigh's 2010 championship.
 
"In the spring of junior year and beginning of senior year, we did a lot of goal setting, and it wasn't just win the Patriot League Championship," she said. "There were goals like be undefeated at home, little milestones throughout the year we were working to achieve.
 
"Having the confidence from hitting those milestone helped accelerate our team to know we could win the Patriot League… we could be great… we are great."
 
Mains was great back in 2010 on the soccer field, and she remains great in 2020 as a teacher and coach. Lehigh, and her student-athlete experience, helped set an important foundation for Mains, allowing her to blossom in any future endeavor.
 
"Lehigh gave me all the tools to succeed," said Mains. "I couldn't have asked for a more enjoyable experience. Every fall, my whole family checks on how the Lehigh women's soccer team is doing. We had college day at our school and I love wearing my Lehigh sweatshirt proudly. You feel like you're part of a family.
 
"I feel like I will always have a home, and it makes me proud to say I graduated from Lehigh."