Just over 200 kilometres southwest of Chicago in the town of Normal, Illinois, Haley Smith has spent the last three years plying her trade as the starting goalkeeper of the Illinois State Redbirds.

With 261 saves and 17 clean sheets in her 62 appearances at Illinois State University (ISU) so far, it didn’t take the 20-year-old Exercise Science student long to get off to a successful start.

In her freshman year, the native of Fall River, Nova Scotia helped her team win the Missouri Valley Conference Regular Season and Tournament championships and backstopped the team to a second-round appearance in the 2016 Women’s College Cup, an achievement which she considers her best memory of playing college soccer thus far and has set her and her team up for continued success.

“Because I was able to become so experienced on the field as a freshman, I have been focusing on leading the other goalkeepers and the team,” Smith said.

She has consistently been a top goalkeeper throughout her college career and finished her junior season tied for 20th in the NCAA in saves with 104 stops in 21 games.

Smith also has no plans of slowing down going into her senior year, as she hopes to win another conference championship and make it to the third round of the NCAA tournament.

While she has been one of the best goalkeepers in the history of ISU’s program, third in all-time saves behind Becky Feldmann and Aryn Newsom, her focus has always been on the team and not her own individual accomplishments.

“Every game I go into, I just focus on doing my best and keeping our team in the games,” she said. “I don’t keep track of saves or the rankings.”

However, her team-first attitude has also won her a plethora of individual accolades.

In her freshman season, Smith was named to the All-Freshman Team in the Missouri Valley Conference, as well as to the All-MVC Second All-Star Team as an honourable mention.

Her sophomore year saw her named as an honourable mention to the All-MVC Scholar-Athlete Team with a 3.92 GPA to accompany her performances on the pitch where she earned eight clean sheets.

Although Smith explained that it can be difficult to juggle both academics and athletics, the university helps to keep its athletes on track with their schoolwork.

“Academics can be hard with a lot of travel, but all of my teachers have been very understanding and flexible with our schedule,” she said. “As long as you are proactive and organized, staying on top of academics is more than possible. The athletic side of things puts a large importance on school, so they provide lots of resources for us. We have a study centre where athletes can study, use computers, see advisors and have access to tutors.”

Smith also explained that despite the short soccer season in the NCAA, development continues year-round.

“Even though our season is only August to November, we spend the whole year training,” Smith said. “We come early in the summer to begin workouts and have team-run practices. And in the offseason, we are still able to practice soccer [for] a few hours a week with our coaching staff, but our main focuses are running and weights. The offseason is very important because you are able to focus on your personal goals and … train more on your own.”

Despite her success since joining ISU, it wasn’t easy for the Nova Scotian to make it to the NCAA.

Smith left home at age 15 to play soccer at Shattuck St. Mary’s, a boarding school in Faribault, Minnesota that produced former Canadian youth international and current New England Revolution forward Teal Bunbury.

“I knew if I wanted to play college soccer in the States, I would need to be recruited in the States,” Smith said. “So, I was able to get recruited playing for Shattuck St. Mary’s at different showcases throughout the States.”

She believes that talented players in small provinces, especially in the Atlantic, often get overlooked in recruiting.

“I think it’s hard for people in smaller provinces to advance their careers,” Smith said. “The teams in the larger cities produce a lot of talent, so they don’t look into the Atlantic players.”

However, Smith believes a professional women’s soccer league in Canada, akin to the upcoming men’s Canadian Premier League, could be beneficial for both players from Canada and abroad.

“I think a professional women’s league would be beneficial for lots of people, not only Canadians. It would help bring a lot of new people to travel to Canada and some to live there.”

While she’d like to see more opportunities for women to play soccer in Canada, Smith will not follow that route and plans to retire after her upcoming senior year to go to chiropractic school.

Although Smith’s career with Illinois State is nearing its end, the Canadian content at ISU looks to stay, as the Redbirds featured two other Canadians on their 2018 roster: freshman goalkeeper Priya Gillan of White Rock, British Columbia and redshirt-freshman defender Sarah Ochitwa of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

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Jacob Noseworthy jacobnoseworthy@outlook.com Jacob is a 21-year-old political science major at the University of Victoria, but he is also setting his sights towards a minor in journalism. He joined Northern Starting Eleven to combine his passions of soccer and journalism and to help promote and grow the sport in Canada. NSXI gives him the opportunity to refine and grow his writing skills, while also growing his love of the beautiful game. When he’s not studying, Jacob can usually be found watching soccer, whether he is supporting Vancouver Whitecaps FC from across the Georgia Strait or at Centennial Stadium cheering on the UVic Vikes.

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