1 Year Post-Soccer

It has officially been 1 year since my lifelong soccer career has ended. Wow.

I poured 18 years worth of blood, sweat, complaining, laughter, friendships, and tears into this sport. It has challenged me both physically and mentally while molding me into a team player, a leader, and highly determined and competitive person that I am today.

Those 18 years went by so freaking fast that I really never had the chance to reflect on everything I was able to accomplish thanks to my parents and the many teammates that I had. So if you're interested, read on. It's going to be pretty lengthy and I'm most likely going to brag because I'm proud. If it's not your cup of tea, go ahead and skip this one.

My soccer career started in the living room because my older sister was already playing. As soon as I was old enough, my parents put me in the YMCA where I was blessed to have my dad and sister as my coach. My team at the Y dominated, and when I say dominated I mean that we literally NEVER lost. I had already fallen in love with the sport, and my parents obviously saw something in me so at the age of 9 they started me in club soccer.

From U9-U15, I played for the Cedar River Soccer Association and my team was BOMB. There was a core of us who had been with the team for all 6-7 years, and we clicked like no other team I had ever been on. We won the indoor state championships for 3 years or so in a row and then my last year with the team before moving to Texas, we also won the outdoor state championships. We were able to play in a World Cup type tournament in MN where we met teams from all over the world and also in the regional tournament in SD. This team grew up together, and although I had to leave them early, I still enjoyed following them through their amazing careers through Facebook.

Before leaving Iowa, I was able to play my freshman year at Benton Community High School. This team was by far the least experienced team I had ever played on, but they were literally the hardest workers. In just my freshman year, I became the record leading goal scorer for the most goals in a single season with 15 goals (which has since been broken). This was the first time that I had ever played forward or held the goal scoring responsibility on a team. This year, I made the WaMaC 1st team All-Conference team, WaMaC MVP and Honorable Mention All-State.

Once I moved to Texas, I played for the Classics Elite team in San Antonio and Smithson Valley High School in Spring Branch. Classics Elite was probably one of the hardest teams I ever had to join because just like my team in Iowa they had been together since they were young. One of the very first things that the coaches told me at my tryouts when I told them I would be playing at SV was "Great, they're going to ruin another one of our players." They weren't very welcoming and wouldn't even call me by own name, but at least I got to play. This team took me all the way to England, my last trip with the team. After scoring a hat trick on the Manchester United Women's Team, I decided to quit the team. I decided that I wasn't going to play college soccer and that paying to play for a team that isolated me wasn't worth it.

However, my experience with SVHS was entirely different. I had to work hard for my spot, but I quickly earned a starting spot on the Varsity team. My senior year I became captain and once again took the goal scoring role. This year, I attribute most of my success to my fellow forward (Lil Gabby). She was, besides Milo (Hannah) at CRSA, the best player I have ever had the privilege of playing next to. She made me a better player, played a massive role in the 24 goals and 10 assists I had that year, and she had a large influence in me deciding to play in college. My 3 year Texas high school career concluded with more than 35 goals, over a dozen assists, and many team and individual honors. My team made it to the 4th round in playoffs my last 2 years and were even undefeated in conference my junior year. I was named 2nd team All-District once, 1st team All-District twice, and my senior year I was also named the Co-Offensive MVP, All-Area Super Team, All-Region Senior Team, Academic All-State, and 1st team All-State. This was already so much more than I ever believed I was capable of, and my next stop was college.

I decided to play at Texas Lutheran University, a small D3 school in Seguin, TX. I NEVER believed that I was good enough to be here and had no idea what to even expect at this next level. During my 4 years at TLU, I was the leading goal scorer for all 4 years and the leading assister for 2. I was named a captain for my last 2 years and my team made it to the Conference Championship tournament both of those years, only falling to the top team in the country. My senior year, we finished with the third most single-season wins in a season in the history of TLU, just 1 game behind tying the 1st place record. Each year at TLU, my teams had to have been the most scrappy teams I had ever played for -- everyone putting their body on the line for the person next to them. Because of this team, in my 4 years, I was named 2nd team All-Conference once, 1st team All-Conference 3 times, awarded the player of the week honor a total of 5 times, and was only the 3rd player in the history of the SCAC to be named to the All-Tournament team for 3 consecutive years. Because of this team, I was one of 3 forwards in 21 states and Canada to be named to the CoSIDA All-District 1st team. Because of this team, I ended my career in 3rd place for the record of most goals in the history of the TLU program with 48 goals and 112 points, scoring 43.2% of my team's goals along the way. Once, I was asked to represent the USA for D3 soccer in Italy, and twice, I was asked to try out for the Philippine National Team World Cup squad. My conference named me the co-Freshman of the year my first year and also the Offensive Player of the Year my senior year, making me only the 2nd player in TLU soccer history to be named OPOTY. My team voted me co-Newcomer of the year my freshman year and Offensive MVP for my last 3 years. My school nominated me for Female Athlete of the Year twice, and each time I lost to AMAZING women and athletes. I represented my conference at the 2015 National NCAA Conference and was later nominated by them for the 2016 NCAA Woman of the Year. I felt and still feel so honored to just be named alongside such amazing students, athletes, and community members.

And just like that, it was all over. For an entire year now, I have not been a competitive soccer player. It is so crazy to think that all of that happened in such little time. There were so many times that I let myself and my teams down, and yet there were so many times that I exceeded my own expectations. Soccer has taken me all over the Midwest and Texas, flew me to England, helped me make friends in Mexico and Boston, and introduced me to the love of my life. Soccer taught me to fail, to fight to succeed and to sacrifice so many things because of the love that I had for my family on the field. I am so proud of myself for all that soccer helped me accomplish. I am so proud to say that I was a part of each team that I played on. Each program I was a part of, each coach, each teammate, they ALL shaped me into not only the athlete but also the type of person and leader that I am today.

To all the local intramural and adult leagues for the rest of my capable life -- here I come. #hasbeen