Men’s Soccer Adds Sean Lawlor to 2026 Coaching Staff
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Kentucky Wildcats men’s soccer program and head coach Johan Cedergren have announced the addition of new assistant coach Sean Lawlor today to the 2026 coaching staff.
Lawlor joins the Wildcats after serving the previous three seasons as an assistant coach with the Penn State Nittany Lions from 2023-25. During his first season, Lawlor helped lead the Nittany Lions to a Big Ten Regular Season Title and a conference tournament championship game appearance in 2023.
Prior to his tenure at Penn State, Lawlor worked as an assistant coach at Syracuse for four seasons. During that time, Lawlor helped lead the Orange to an ACC Atlantic Division regular season title, an ACC Tournament Championship and the program’s first NCAA National Championship in 2022.
He was an integral part of planning and organizing training sessions and recruiting. Lawlor recruited Nathan Opoku, who signed a professional contract with Leicester City. He also recruited DeAndre Kerr, Russell Shealy and Abdi Salim who were drafted in the MLS SuperDraft in 2021 and 2022.
Prior to his four years at Syracuse, Lawlor spent the previous four years as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Drexel. He helped lead the Dragons to an undefeated non-conference season in 2018. Lawlor was responsible for organizing, planning and conducting training sessions, preparing scouting reports, coordinating team travel and serving as the liaison with support staff. As the recruiting coordinator, he arranged all visits for perspective student-athletes. Lawlor recruited 2018 all-region honoree Mathias Ebbesen and Chris Donovan, a CAA MVP and current Louisville City FC striker.
“Excited to have Sean join our staff this season,” Cedergren said. “He is a tremendous recruiter and brings a lot of quality, high-level experience at the Division I level to our program.”
Lawlor and the Wildcats will return to The Bell tomorrow night for the 2026 spring home opener against IU Indy at 7 p.m. ET.
For the latest on the Kentucky men’s soccer team, follow the Cats on X, Facebook and Instagram, as well as on the web at UKAthletics.com.
