Kara Lang

Lang in 2009
Personal information
Full name	Kara Elise Lang Romero
Birth name	Kara Elise Lang
Date of birth	(1986-10-22)22 October 1986 (age 39)
Place of birth	Calgary,Alberta, Canada
Height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Position	Forward
College career
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2005–2008	UCLA
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2003–2006	Vancouver Whitecaps FC	22	(13)
2009	Pali Blues	3	(1)
2010	Vancouver Whitecaps FC	8	(1)
International career‡
2002	Canada U-19
2002–2011	Canada	92	(34)
* Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 11 April 2013 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals as of 11 April 2013 (UTC)

Kara Elise Lang Romero (born 22 October 1986) is a former Canadiansoccer player and currentsports analyst, who represented her country in twoFIFA World Cups and theOlympic Games, and played club soccer forVancouver Whitecaps Women. She is the youngest woman to be named to Canada National Women's Team, making her National Team debut on 1 March 2002 at the Algarve Cup in Portugal at age 15.^[1] Lang retired on 5 January 2011 at the age of 24 due to recurring knee and ACL injuries.^[1] Lang began a comeback in 2013, with her ambition being to help Canada in the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, but suffered a third ACL injury in February 2014, effectively ending her comeback. She now has two sons and a daughter with professional baseball playerRicky Romero.^[2][3] She was inducted into theCanadian Soccer Hall of Fame as a player in November 2015.^[4]

As of 2015, Lang is married to former baseball playerRicky Romero.^[5] The couple are parents to two sons and a daughter.

Lang was born on 22 October 1986 inCalgary,Alberta and raised inOakville, Ontario.^[6] Her mother is originally fromManchester,England.^[7]

Lang transitioned to vegetarianism as a teenager and, inspired and mentored by national teammateAmy Walsh, became vegan by the time Amy returned to the Canada squad.^[8][9]

Lang was ranked as the #1 recruit in the 2005 recruiting class, and choseUCLA. Lang was named as a preseason All-American, which is a notable achievement for a freshman. The UCLA Bruins, under head coachJill Ellis, compiled an overall record of 22–2–2 in the 2005–2006 season, was ranked 4th nationally, and won the Pac-10 title on the strength of excellent team defence.

Lang started her college career with a splash, scoring a hat-trick in her second game. In the 2005 NCAA tournament, she scored eight goals in six games.^[10] Lang's UCLA Bruins met the University of Portland in theNCAA final, where she came up against one of her international teammates,Christine Sinclair; Portland won the title with a 4–0 win. She finished her first year at UCLA with 17 goals and six assists in 24 games, finishing second in team scoring behindDanesha Adams.

Lang took a medicalredshirt in the 2006 season after tearing anACL during the offseason, and will have three more years of athletic eligibility at UCLA.

2007; played in 17 matches starting 16. Honorable Mention All-Pac-10 selection. Scored both goals in a 2–1 overtime victory over Portland on 28 September, her first college match since the 2005 NCAA Final (missed the entire 2006 season with an ACL injury). Ended the season with 17 points on seven goals and three assists. Tallied the game-winning goal in a 2–0 victory over Washington State on 9 November. Scored the Bruins' second goal in a 3–2 double-overtime victory over Portland in the NCAA Quarterfinals. Honorable Mention All-Pac-10 Academic selection.

2008; played in 24 matches, starting in 23, scoring five goals and assisting on nine. Helped UCLA to an unbeaten season of 18–0–2 (9–0 in conference play). Earned second-team ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District VIII honours. Scored a goal and 2 assists in the 1st round of the College Cup. Lost 1–0 in the semi-finals to UNC.

Lang is one of the youngest players to score a full international goal. She scored againstWales at theAlgarve Cup on 3 March 2002 at age 15 years, 132 days. Her senior debut, two days earlier, was a Canadian record for youngest senior women'scap.

At the 2002 FIFA U-19 World Championships, held inEdmonton,Alberta, as a 15-year-old, Lang scored three goals in six games and added a crucial penalty-kick goal under intense pressure in the semi-finals againstBrazil. Canada lost in the final against their rivals in the United States.

At the age of 16, Lang played in all six of Canada's games at theFIFA Women's World Cup 2003. Lang scored two goals in the World Cup (a tally each against Japan in the group stage, and against Sweden in the semi-finals). Lang's memorable free-kick goal in the semi-finals came in the 64th minute to give Canada a 1–0 lead against Sweden, but they would lose the game 2–1 and eventually finish in 4th place at the event.

Lang was an integral part of the 2004CONCACAF U-19 Qualifying tournament inOttawa,Ontario, where she played as a central defender at the request of head coachIan Bridge. Lang proved to be a dominant force in defence paired withEmily Zurrer, and Canada captured the tournament title with a 2–1 extra-time victory over the United States. Despite high hopes, Canada lost in the quarterfinals against China in the2004 U-19 World Championships in Thailand after being down a player for almost the entire game.

In the 2006 CONCACAF U-20 Qualifying tournament, Lang set a record for fastest goal (four seconds) when she scored from the opening kickoff against Mexico on 22 January 2006.^[11] Lang participated in theFIFA Women's World Cup 2007 in China.

On 6 August 2008, Lang scored the winning goal for Canada in a 2–1 victory over Argentina at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Canada lost in the quarter-finals to United States.

Lang scored one goal in Canada's thrashing of Guyana for 8–0 during the2010 CONCACAF Women's World Cup qualifying tournament. She went on, along with her teammates, to win the tournament v Mexico in the final (1–0) on 8 November 2010. Unfortunately, this was her last appearance playing soccer, as recurring ACL and knee injuries, forced her to retire. She made the official announcement at anOakville Soccer Club Press Conference on 5 January 2011, in front of young fans, coaches, soccer club affiliates, and press. "I have gotten everything out of this sport, and I have given this sport all that I have," she said about her retirement. TeammatesDiana Matheson,Robyn Gayle,Carmelina Moscato andMelanie Booth also noted that Lang was one of the most 'enthusiastic, hilarious, courteous and spontaneous people' that they ever knew, and were proud not only to have called her a teammate, but one of their best and lifelong friends.^{[citation needed]}

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	3 March 2002	Lagoa,Portugal	Wales	2–0	4–0	2002 Algarve Cup
2.				4–0
3.	5 March 2002	Silves, Portugal	Portugal	4–0	7–1
4.				6–0
5.	6 April 2002	Limoges,France	France	1–0	2–0	Friendly
6.	9 April 2002		Japan	1–?	2–3
7.	1 November 2002	Victoria,Canada	Jamaica	4–0	9–0	2002 CONCACAF Women's Gold Cup
8.				6–0
9.				8–0
10.				9–0
11.	20 March 2003	Guia, Portugal	Greece	4–0	7–1	2003 Algarve Cup
12.	19 May 2003	Lachine, Canada	England	3–0	4–0	Friendly
13.				4–0
14.	22 May 2003	Ottawa, Canada	England	4–0	4–0
15.	20 July 2003		Brazil	1–?	2–1
16.	31 August 2003	Edmonton, Canada	Mexico	1–0	8–0
17.	9 September 2003	Burnaby, Canada	Mexico	1–0	6–0
18.				2–0
19.				4–0
20.	27 September 2003	Foxborough,United States	Japan	3–1	3–1	2003 FIFA Women's World Cup
21.	5 October 2003	Portland, United States	Sweden	1–0	1–2
22.	1 September 2004	Burnaby, Canada	Germany	1–?	1–3	Friendly
23.	4 September 2004	Edmonton, Canada	Germany	2–?	4–3
24.	16 July 2007	Rio de Janeiro,Brazil	Ecuador	2–0	4–0	2007 Pan American Games
25.				3–0
26.				4–0
27.	18 July 2007		Jamaica	8–0	11–1
28.	5 March 2008	Paralimni,Cyprus	Russia	2–1	2–1	2008 Cyprus Women's Cup
29.	2 April 2008	Ciudad Juárez, Mexico	Trinidad and Tobago	3–0	6–0	2008 CONCACAF Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament
30.	16 June 2008	Suwon,South Korea	South Korea	1–0	3–1	2008 Peace Queen Cup
31.	18 June 2008		New Zealand	2–0	2–0
32.	6 August 2008	Tianjin,China	Argentina	2–0	2–1	2008 Summer Olympics
34.	31 October 2010	Cancún, Mexico	Guyana	8–0	8–0	2010 CONCACAF Women's World Cup Qualifying

In 2011, Lang transitioned to the broadcast booth as a televisionsports analyst forRogers Sportsnet covering the2011 FIFA Women's World Cup.^[12] Lang continued working for Sportsnet after the World Cup.^[13][14]

Staying with Rogers, beginning in August 2012, Lang joined the team of the new nightly showSoccer Central onSportsnet World in Canada. The show was broadcast as Fox Soccer News in the USA. She left the show in early 2013 to pursue her comeback to the National team and a few months later it was cancelled. In 2014 Lang joined the MLS on TSN broadcast team covering the Montreal Impact and Toronto FC as a sideline reporter. In 2015, she was also an analyst for TSN's coverage of theFIFA Women's World Cup.

National team statistics

Major tournament statistics

Club and college statistics

• Women's association football portal

• Official Kara Lang Website
• Kara Lang atCanada Soccer /Canada Soccer Hall of Fame
• Official UCLA profile
• Official FIFA World Cup 2003 profile
• NCAA Women's Soccer
• "Kara Lang", JDG, Player Magazine, 2003
• "Inside Track", Teddy Katz, CBC Radio, 2003 (audio)
• "Kara's got kick", Terry Jones, Edmonton Sun, 2002
• Kara Lang –FIFA competition record (archived)

• 1986 births
• Women's association football forwards
• Canada women's international soccer players
• Canadian soccer commentators
• Canadian expatriate women's soccer players
• Canadian expatriate sportspeople in the United States
• Canadian people of English descent
• Canada Soccer Hall of Fame inductees
• Footballers at the 2007 Pan American Games
• Footballers at the 2008 Summer Olympics
• Living people
• Olympic soccer players for Canada
• Pali Blues players
• Soccer players from Oakville, Ontario
• Sportswomen from Ontario
• Soccer players from Calgary
• Sportswomen from Alberta
• UCLA Bruins women's soccer players
• Vancouver Whitecaps FC (women) players
• 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup players
• Canadian women's soccer players
• 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup players
• Pan American Games bronze medalists for Canada in football
• Medalists at the 2007 Pan American Games
• 21st-century Canadian sportswomen

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