With 15 appearances this season, senior midfielder Cat Ashley ended her collegiate career with 61 appearances, tops among Sweet Briar College soccer players. Vixens Erin Wright ’00 and Michelle Lennane ’89 set the previous mark of 59 game appearances.
“It is really cool to say I was able to play four years of college soccer,” Ashley said. “No one from my high school team played in college.”
Senior Cat Ashley set a record this season for number of soccer games played. As a student-athlete, the St. Albans, W.V. native had to make sacrifices to play soccer all four years. She chose to go abroad for only one semester her junior year so she could play soccer in the fall, and last season she juggled soccer with her role in the play “Macbeth.”
Prior to playing her final season, friends suggested that she give up the sport altogether because of the work involved with her senior theater project. Ashley opted to squeeze it all in somehow, a decision she does not regret. “Missing soccer wasn’t something I wanted to do,” she said. “I am proud of myself, proud that I stuck with it.”
All the sacrifices have been worth it to Ashley, who added that aside from all the positives she gets from soccer, participating in athletics helped her balance her time and succeed academically.
Soccer is also what kept her at Sweet Briar. During Ashley’s freshman and sophomore years, she was happy at Sweet Briar but wondered if she would be happier closer to home. Her decision not to transfer was influenced by the belief that she might not be able to play soccer elsewhere.
Ashley became aware of her record-breaking pace last spring after returning to campus from a semester in China. She stopped by Coach Paul Shaw’s office to say, “Hello” and they began to talk about the upcoming season.
“He showed me the [game appearance] rankings and where I was on the list,” Ashley explained, adding that at the time she thought it was sort of cool and called her parents to tell them.
Now that she holds the record, she has come to appreciate what the record means.
“It's cool to say I am number one, even if I don’t hold it for long,” Ashley, who stayed under the radar gun as far as conference awards and recognition, said. “I was never a scorer, I was the person who was passing the ball or defending.”
To Ashley this record is different because unlike records for goals scored or saves made, holding the game appearances record shows dedication. “It shows my level of dedication and there is something to be said for that,” she said.
Ashley had bittersweet feelings last month as she approached her last game. After spending time at the soccer field the night before reflecting on her four years, she, along with fellow seniors Claire Bryan (Cheseapeak, Va./Norfolk Academy) and Carlina Muglia (Amherst, Va./Amherst County) played their last collegiate game on Oct. 22. “We knew entering the season that it was our last and that helped push us,” she said. “It is definitely sad now that it is over.”
And thanks to Coach Shaw’s decision to order pink jersey tops for the season, Ashley and her fellow seniors played their last game in pink. “I’m proud to be a Vixen, proud of our pink and green colors, and getting to wear the pink uniform my senior year was one of the best things Coach Shaw has done,” she said.
Ashley’s post-graduation plans aren’t yet mapped out but she hopes to utilize her international affairs and theater majors. She might go back to China or enter graduate school, possibly back home in West Virginia. The latter might give her the opportunity to coach soccer, she said. No matter her plans, though, she wants to continue to play soccer in some fashion.
