Beverly Yanez does not have time to waste.
Finished with team activities for the day, the Racing Louisville FC head coach was hustling home on a weeknight to grab her young daughters for their evening activities.
She called in between, and offered “about 15 minutes.”
Navigating her second season managing a National Women’s Soccer League team, the Moreno Valley High graduate was honest about the situation.
“It’s all I have. I hope it’s OK,” she said.
The only Inland area native currently serving as a professional head coach at the top levels of U.S. soccer, Yanez returns to Southern California this week as Racing Louisville FC takes on Angel City FC at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles on Saturday at 7 p.m.
MORENO VALLEY ROOTS
Yanez (formerly Goebel) grew up in Moreno Valley just as the city was beginning to expand. Her parents bought their home in 1988 in one of the many housing tracts developed after the razing of Riverside International Raceway.
“I’m always coming back and reconnecting in the same house – my parents own the same house they moved into back in 1988 when I was born – so it’s a walk down memory lane every time I go home,” Yanez said.
She played AYSO in Moreno Valley from the age of 5, remembers Sunnymead Hamburgers the way it was and grew up within reach of some of the best tacos on the planet.
“Great food, the best food,” she said. “I’m always flying out for the tacos, but the city just taught me a lot about who I was.”
She married her high school crush, former Columbus Crew midfielder Othaniel Yanez, after both finished college. Their parents, now grandparents, all still live in Moreno Valley.
“So many good memories as a kid; Went to Moreno Valley High School and actually met my husband at Moreno Valley High,” Yanez said. “We were both pursuing our soccer dreams to play professionally, went to separate colleges and now we have two children.”
She has only visited since leaving for college at 18, unable to settle in one place for very long but always returning home when her schedule allows.
“I feel like every time I go home a little something changes,” Yanez said. “It’s developing so quickly (but) that’s where my passion all began was right there in the city and right there in that home, so it’s really special every time I go back.”
1999
The Goebel family was at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena when Brandi Chastain won the 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup for the United States over China in a penalty kick shootout.
“It ignited a generation, right?” Yanez said.
Just 11 years old at the time, Yanez was already in her seventh year of AYSO soccer.
“My mom was like, ‘You’ll love this!’” she said. “At that point the passion already was very strong even though I was such a young girl.”
The tickets, purchased months ahead of time, were nearly sold at the last minute for a big profit.
“The game starts to approach, U.S. vs. China, and it’s an ongoing joke in my family because my dad tried to convince my mom to sell the tickets. They were worth so much at that point,” Yanez said. “We actually got them for $14 bucks and they were worth hundreds, and we decided, ‘No, let’s go to the game.’”
What it must have been to be a kid in the stands that day.
“Braids in my hair, sunburned and just watching 80,000 people absolutely root for these women,” Yanez said. “I walked away that day saying, ‘This is what I want to do.’”
PLAYING GLOBALLY
Yanez played collegiately at Sacramento State in 2006 before transferring to Miami and playing three seasons from 2007-09.
She was selected by the Washington Freedom in the 2010 WPS draft and scored her first professional goal that season before being taken by the Western New York Flash later that year in the WPS expansion draft.
After two seasons and one championship in the now-defunct WPS, Yanez jumped at the opportunity to play club soccer internationally. She signed a one-year contract with Pallokerho-35 in Finland in 2011 before moving to Kobe Leonessa in Japan in 2012.
“What I was able to do in that time frame for my game, from a technical and tactical perspective at that age in my career was far beyond anything I thought I’d be capable of doing,” said Yanez, who won the Nadeshiko League Golden Boot as top scorer with 13 goals in 2013.
She returned to the United States and played with the Seattle Reign from 2014-19 in the then newly-formed NWSL, but she was already eyeing a coaching career.
“In Japan, I started getting my (coaching) licenses at the same time and was really willing and wanting to give back from an education standpoint, as soon as my playing career was over,” Yanez said.
Yanez, who was a NWSL Best XI selection, retired in 2020 and focused on coaching. She got her first professional job as an assistant with NJ/NY Gotham FC in 2021, took on the same role in Louisville in 2023, and was appointed Racing’s head coach ahead of the 2024 season.
LOUISVILLE
Yanez said she thought people were lying when they talked about the traffic in Louisville.
“It was the first thing everybody told me when I got here and I thought it was the biggest lie but it’s not,” Yanez said. “What I love about Louisville, Kentucky, is that they talk about traffic on the news, and it’s not traffic.”
Yanez knows about the Interstate 60-215 and the 91 Freeway. She’s seen real traffic.
“When you come from California, you come from traffic,” she said.
There have been many pleasant surprises, however, in a city famously known for baseball bats, boxing and bourbon.
“They have very good food here,” Yanez said. “It’s the UPS hub in the U.S., so fresh food arrives daily like all kinds of fish. I did not expect that.”
Connections with fans and communities also are made a little more easily in Louisville.
“Louisville has a very small-city feel,” Yanez said. “They’re so many good people and they’ve been so welcoming. I love that it’s a very family-friendly place to live.”
TIME WELL SPENT
Two young children under the age of 5 is a lot to handle for any working parent.
The drop-offs, the pickups, and the constant need for flexibility in a work schedule that demands travel means every minute matters.
“I’m leaving work at different hours all the time,” Yanez said. “I have two little young ones and it’s very important for me to be present in their lives.”
The efficiency and time management skills required of a professional coach also helps with carpools around town.
“I have my kids in multiple things like gymnastics and that kind of stuff because you really can get anywhere in Louisville in 15 minutes,” she said.
With no time to waste, what could be better?
“To live and work and be somewhere where I can go from ‘a’ to ‘b’ and be able to go anywhere at any time of the day is really incredible for a young family,” she said.
