Nov. 17, 2008
Finding yourself smack-dab in the midst of one of the most storied Division I rivalries in the history of collegiate athletics can be a daunting thing.
For Naval Academy freshman Kate Herren, a 2007 Auburn Mountainview graduate, that moment came Sept. 24 at West Point, N.Y., during the first Army versus Navy women's soccer match of the season.
"The first game ... it was ridiculous," said Herren, a defender for the Midshipman. "They had their entire group out there screaming and yelling the entire time. To play there was intimidating. It was a lot of chaos in the first half before both teams ended up settling down and playing soccer."
That contest, a 0-0 double-overtime stalemate, was just a foretaste of what Herren could expect when Navy plays Army.
Herren's Division I journey began June 28 when, after a year at Naval Academy Preparatory school in Newport, R.I., she reported to Annapolis for Plebe Summer.
"When I got here, it was kind of like, in the locker room and out in practice it would suddenly hit me, `This is really happening. I'm here, I'm in uniform and I'll be a Naval officer in four years,' " Herren said.
On the field during the season reality also made its presence felt, reminding Herren that this was athletics at a higher level, a far cry from her South Puget Sound League days.
"It was really rough," she said. "At the beginning of the season it was like a whole new world. You get to college and everyone is fast. Instead of just a couple of people on your high school team who are fast, they're all fast."
For the complete article by Shawn Skager of the Auburn Reporter, click here.
