Sports Spotlight: Women’s Soccer

Reported by: Bryn Heikes

Photographed by: Imogene Eagan

Fall 2020 has been a season of change for the George Fox University (GFU) women’s soccer team. The most obvious alterations are the result of the pandemic, which has wreaked havoc on the traditional soccer season, pushing the competitive season into late spring and disrupting the daily practice structure.

Senior goalkeeper Annalisa Klien commented on these changes, saying, “Normally we would have been on the field every day practicing and playing games on the weekend for the past 4 months. Now our season is pushed to the spring, which is very unusual, and we're hoping to get some games in then.”

Abby Anderson, senior midfielder for the Bruins, chimed in about the difficulty of building relationships within the team with the safety guidelines in place. “It has also been different because we haven't been able to connect with teammates as well as we usually would have. With having to wear masks, it takes a lot of the personal connection out of being with each other. We do as best we can with connecting outside of practices and lifts but COVID restrictions sometimes make it tricky.”

In addition to COVID related adjustments, the GFU women’s soccer team welcomed Laura Schott as the new head coach. However, according to junior defender Kara Ryker, these circumstances might have been ideal for transitioning to a new coach.

“In a way, COVID has been a blessing in the sense that we get to meet and play under our new coach before playing against other teams, especially since that opportunity was taken from us in our spring season when we were first going to be playing under Laura - still due to COVID,” said Ryker.

Nevertheless, these players are facing a unique season, and have approached it in a variety of different ways. Ryker, for example, chooses to tackle it as she would any other season. “Personally, to cope with this unique season so far, I just act as if it is a normal season. I work, train and play as though we have a game approaching.”

“When I don't perform as I would like, I give myself more grace than usual however, given the circumstances,” she added. “But with this grace comes improvement - I look at it as an opportunity to grow in my game as well as the relationships with my coaches and teammates.”

For Klien, this season is an opportunity to focus on rooting her identity in God. “Most importantly I have been building my identity in Christ and not in soccer, I think it is tricky for a lot of athletes to find identity in other things because most of their life all they've done is their sport.” She continued, “I put my trust in Christ and root in him knowing that he is unshakeable and his plans are greater than mine … As much as this season is not what I pictured my senior season to look like, I know that God's got a big plan and that I am more than just a soccer player.”

In closing, Ryker expressed appreciation for her coaches and teammates. “Even through all of the chaos and changes, this year on the soccer team has been better than I imagined. … This year is definitely different than others, but because of the people I have around me it makes it so much better.”