Playing Division lll soccer at the University of Mary Washington, 2019 alumna Mikaela O’Fallon reflects on her first year playing at the college level. Being Division lll gives O’Fallon more freedom compared to a Division l athlete, and she finds there a big difference between the competitiveness of college and high school soccer. 

“[Playing a sport in college] is very different. The competitiveness in college is a lot different than the competitiveness in high school. On the college team, you have a bunch of players that were the best on their high school team. You’re all competing for a spot, so you’re all not the best anymore. I’m not saying that I’m the best, I’m just saying that the other people [are competing],” O’Fallon said. “[Being Division lll], you’re not owned as much I guess… you have a lot more freedom in Division lll. You’re still on a schedule and still doing the sport and everything but you just have a lot more freedom than a Division l athlete.”

For O’Fallon, balancing grades and a sport in the fall was a challenge.

“[It can be hard keeping up with grades and sports]. I’m not too terrible at organization, so if I have a plan written down, I’d normally follow that plan. At the beginning, it was hard just because I hadn’t done that before and it was my first semester. [Plus], soccer is in the fall in college. It was a lot happening at one time, so that was kind of difficult. Once I started figuring out everything, it became a lot easier,” O’Fallon said. 

Being the only left-footed player on the team is an advantage for O’Fallon as she plays on the left side.

“My strength is my actual physical strength. I’m not afraid to go hard into a tackle. So when I’m playing on the outside wing, it’s an advantage. I’m not the fastest, but I’m fast going down the length of the field. I’m [also] left-footed. Being left-footed [means that] I can play on the left side and I [can] make crosses with my left,” O’Fallon said.

The team’s main motivation for the next season is to have a better record and making it further into the NCAA tournament.

“In the past years [with] the coach that was here, the team had not won conference. They didn’t make it to the NCAA tournament, so this year, one of the main motivations was to do that: to become conference champions. We did it this year, so next year my motivation is just to keep going and setting different goals,” O’Fallon said.

O’Fallon plans on continuing soccer at UMW for the next three years.

“I want to keep playing because I’ve been playing soccer since I was like five or six. It’s just been a thing that has always been around that i’ve always done and loved. It takes my mind off of things. When I’ve had something going on, I just take it out on the field. I physically get rid of everything, and just go out and play,” O’Fallon said.

As O’Fallon continues to play, she aspires to be someone people can look up to as a college athlete. 

“One of my goals is to be the best player that I can become and inspire others to do what I’m doing,” O’Fallon said.