Fox Chapel grad Britta Lagerquist making most of soccer experiences at Grove City

Part of being a college student is having different experiences. Fox Chapel grad Britta Lagerquist, in just two years at Grove City, has compiled a nice list of “new.” Consider:

• As a freshman, she played a position on the soccer pitch that she hadn’t played before.

• Last season, as a sophomore, she joined the Wolverines track and field team. She hadn’t participated in track at any other time in her life.

• This summer, she journeyed to South Africa with the GCC women’s team to take part in a program that was part soccer, part Christian ministry.

Now, as the summer winds toward the time when college athletes will return to campuses to begin training for the 2023 fall season, Lagerquist has refocused on her job as a forward for the women’s soccer team. Last season, Lagerquist scored 10 goals (sixth in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference) and totaled 27 points (tied for fourth). The effort earned Lagerquist her first all-conference first-team honor.

“I’m really excited for this year,” she said. “We only had four seniors leaving from last year. … The majority of our team is staying, and we also have a couple players coming back from ACL injuries. … And we also have some talented freshmen coming in from what I hear.

“We keep talking about how we want to win the PAC championship.”

During her freshman season with the women’s soccer team, Lagerquist was asked to play out of position. Injuries and other personnel circumstances prompted longtime coach Melissa Lamie to move Lagerquist, a forward by trade, to outside back.

She hadn’t played defense until her junior year a Fox Chapel — not even with her Hotspurs club team — and had no experience at outside back at any level. She said having played a little defense in high school helped her to adjust. Plus, she was able to use her natural speed to assist in the attack when opportunities presented themselves.

Lagerquist produced three goals and two assists and contributed to a defense that allowed only five goals in PAC matches. She earned second-team all-conference accolades for her effort.

“It was kind of fun because I could bring my love for attacking into that (outside back) position,” she said. “I tried to get up the field as much as I could as well as helping on defense to try to get more numbers in the box and get us more opportunities to score goals.”

For now, it appears Lagerquist’s foray in to defense was a one-off endeavor. So, too, was her participation in track and field.

She had received overtures in the past to give it a try, and, in the spring, she finally gave in. She approached it as a different way of training for the next soccer season, figuring it would be a break in the monotony of her usual workouts and cut down on some of the normal soccer wear and tear.

She landed in the sprint events — probably expected for a fleet-footed soccer player — and not only got to work on her speed but reaped a few unexpected rewards.

At the PAC championships. Lagerquist earned a spot on the podium in the 200 meters (placing eighth) and earned a bronze medal as part of the Wolverines’ 400 relay team.

“I don’t think I’m going to be doing that this upcoming year,” she said, “but it was a lot of fun.”

Perhaps it was fortuitous that Lagerquist got that bit of extra speed work over the spring. Her normal summer routine was broken up by a two-week trip to South Africa with Ambassadors Football, “a global organization that connects people to Jesus through football,” according to the group’s website.

Lagerquist said she and her teammates learned that, in South Africa, there are a large number of children who grow up in single-parent homes, so Ambassadors Football offers some training in not only soccer but ways for soccer coaches to act as spiritual and familial role models.

Lagerquist and her teammates helped out with several youth camps and taught kids about how to make sacrifices on the field and then tied that in with their faith.

“It was really cool to see how soccer could be such a tool for a greater purpose,” she said.

Of course, there also were chances to play soccer. The sport, Lagerquist said, is emerging in South Africa but still in its nascent stages. Grove City’s players competed against one of the country’s women’s club teams and took part in some small-sided games against players who were college age and younger.

“There were so many things to learn from it,” Lagerquist said. “Every coach we met, everybody in the organization was so willing to serve us and never made us feel like we were a burden. … Bringing that mentality back here in my everyday life, like, how can I willingly and cheerfully serve people around me?”

She will get a chance to put that mantra to practical use starting in one month when she and her teammates reconvene at Grove City to begin official preparations for the 2023 season. Last fall, the Wolverines went 7-2-1 in the PAC and reached the conference semifinals.

Lagerquist is hopeful of a longer postseason run this time, preferably one that would end in a PAC championship. Which would be something else new for her to experience.

“I really want to focus on the team mission,” she said. “I really want to be invested in all the freshmen’s lives right from the start so they can feel the love and welcoming attitude we want them to feel.

“On the field, I definitely want to keep pushing the pace. I want my endurance to be good enough that I can stay on the field so that I am able to contribute to my team as much as possible.”