Marty Budner

hometownlife.com

The 1999 World Cup champion U.S. Women's National Soccer Team influenced many young girls playing in this country's youth leagues at the turn of the millennium.

Haley Kopmeyer was one of them.

The former Bloomfield Hills Lahser standout recalls being injected with soccer fever at a young age and dreaming of one day reaching the highest level. She is now playing professionally with the Seattle Reign FC of the National Women's Soccer League.

"When I was in fifth grade, I was at Our Lady Queen of Martyrs and I gave a speech about what I wanted to be when I grew up," said Kopmeyer, a Troy native who now lives in Seattle. "It was, like, right after the 99ers who won the World Cup. I was, like, I knew I wanted to do that and go beyond that.

"I've always had a certain drive to be at the highest level of soccer. I think pretty early on I knew I wanted to try out, play for every team I could and play at the highest level and compete at the highest level," she added. "Even after college, I didn't necessarily know if everything would fall into place and I would be able to do that, but I got a shot. I've been lucky enough that a few things have gone my way and I got that shot. It's been fun."

Kopmeyer was selected by Seattle in the fourth round of the NWSL College Draft on Jan. 18, 2013. The 26-year-old goalkeeper has played sparingly for the Reign over the years, which is not surprising since the Reign FC's starting goalie is none other than Women's National Team star Hope Solo.

However, Kopmeyer currently finds herself in a unique situation.

Solo is serving a sixth-month suspension by the U.S. Soccer Federation because of comments made following the penalty-kick loss to Sweden in the recent Olympic Games in Rio De Janeiro. As a result, Kopmeyer has been thrust into the starting job at a most pressure-packed time, at the tail-end of the season as Seattle is desperately attempting to land a spot in the upcoming NWSL postseason tournament.

"It has been an emotional time for everyone and there's no secret that the handling of it and the reaction of everything has been a little bit confusing and a hard time for a lot of people," Kopmeyer said. "It's obviously a massive, massive decision that the U.S. Soccer Federation took (to suspend Solo), but it obviously took a lot of attention on my role and what was going to happen.

"I've been backing up Hope and stepping in for Hope and all of those things since kind of day one here. For me, I've always sort of held myself up to the standard that, OK, I'm not her, but I always want my team to feel just as comfortable as if she was in (the net) and then to be the best goaltender I can be to win games.

"That's kind of always been how I've approached this position," she added. "Even with the added pressure and the craziness that has gone on, I'm still just trying to play my game, settle in and take a moment at a time and a game at a time and do what I can to help us win games."

Fighting for playoff berth

Seattle is fighting for its playoff life, currently sitting in fifth place behind the fourth-place Western New York Flash in the 10-team NWSL standings with one game to go. Only the top four teams make the playoffs. Seattle's next game is Sept. 25 in Houston (FOX Sports 1, 10:30 p.m.) and the Reign need to win and hope for a Flash loss to leap into the final spot.

Kopmeyer has been between the pipes for six straight games, giving the Reign a big boost in their last home game of the year Sept. 11, when she backstopped a 2-0 shutout over the first-place Washington Spirit in a must-win outing. She is looking forward to the key final game, hoping it means something as the Flash play their final game the previous day Sept. 24.

"It was great to get that win over Washington and that's a win we really needed," Kopmeyer said. "Plus, it was such a special night as we were honoring our captain (Keelin Winters), who is retiring at the end of the season. She scored in the game and, truthfully, that was hands-down our best performance of the season. We were so excited and so happy about what we were able to do in that final home game of the year.

"We want to finish the season strong no matter what, but there’s obviously a little bit of stakes now in that (Flash) game that’s going to be played before us,” she added. “We’ll just be getting ready and preparing the best we can. We’ve managed to stay alive here in the race and it’s unfortunate we’ve kind of got to a point where it’s a little bit out of our control in the last game.”

Learning from Hope

Kopmeyer has played all four years behind Solo in Seattle. But during that time, she's improved her game by watching and heeding the advice of arguably the world's best goalkeeper.

She played just one game in her rookie season of 2013 and saw the field four times as a starter in 2014. Last year, in somewhat of a breakout season, Kopmeyer started 11 games -- three more than Solo -- and made a name for herself. She finished with a sterling 1.00 goals-against average, was second in the league with seven victories, seventh in minutes played (990) and tied for third with four shutouts.

This season, she has started 10 games, with a 1.10 goals-against average, and is ninth in the league with 36 saves. She is tied for seventh with three shutouts.

"(Solo) has been fantastic for me. I sing her praises very highly and I have nothing but good things to say about her," Kopmeyer said. "She has been absolutely instrumental in my development. She believes in me and helps me. She is a student of the game herself and she watches me and says, 'Think about doing this' or 'Get your feet moving' or whatever it is.

"She is always trying to make herself better. I've learned from her how to train and how to be the best and what you need to do to be the best goalkeeper in the world," she added. "She makes goaltending look so easy and I've tried to emulate her in that sense. She's unbelievable to me both on and off the field."

A prep and college star

Kopmeyer's soccer career began on the youth fields around Oakland County.

As a four-year member of the Michigan Hawks, she helped lead the vaunted travel program to three State Cup championships and two national semifinal appearances. She also played for the state ODP program from 2004-07.

Kopmeyer began her high school career as a goalie at Seaholm before transferring to Lahser, where she helped lead the Knights to the 2007 Division 2 state championship game, where they lost to Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central. As a senior in 2007, she was an NSCAA and Parade All-American and a first team all-state goalie.

Kopmeyer earned a scholarship to play at the University of Michigan, which was just beginning to rebuild its women's soccer program. By the time she finished in 2012, Kopmeyer was Michigan's career leader in saves (383), saves per game (4.91), goals-against average (0.96), shutouts (27) and minutes played (7,214). She made her mark as an NSCAA second team All-American in 2012 when she was named the Big Ten's Goalie of the Year.

"I loved playing at Michigan. I went in when Michigan was rebuilding and they brought in a new coach and the whole nine yards," Kopmeyer said. "By the time I left, they were competing and making a run. The year after I left, they made the elite eight. So it was fun to see the team transform and pretty special to watch the program rebuild during my time there. It was wonderful."

Now, Kopmeyer simply plans to continue developing as a professional soccer goalie. She would like to earn her keep as a starting NWSL goalie and has her eyes set on some day playing for the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team.

"It's been great for me and, over the last few games here, I wanted to show that hopefully I'm good enough where I can be a starter for this team or be a starter somewhere in this league," Kopmeyer said. "Over the last two seasons, I've tried to show them that. I'm just kind of transitioning in that role (as a starter) and I have no qualms about saying that down the line I need to get better and get opportunities with the national team.

"That's my goal and that's what I'm working for," she added. "I want to become a great starter in this league and then I think the opportunities will take care of themselves. My experience the last few games has been invaluable."

Maybe one of these days, Kopmeyer will be one of the stars influencing future youth soccer players to achieve great heights in the sport.