Soccer
Favorite athlete: Julie Ertz
Favorite team: USWNT
Favorite memory competing in sports: Traveling around the country with my ECNL team.
Most embarrassing thing that has happened while competing in sports: Missing a wide open shot on a breakaway to goal.
Music on mobile device: Country
Future plans: Attend Saint Joseph’s University to study health science and play soccer.
Favorite motto: “Go ahead, underestimate me. You won’t be the first, you won’t be the last, but you will be wrong.”
One goal before turning 30: Go somewhere to train professionally
One thing people don’t know about me: My favorite color is blue.
By Mary Jane Souder
Maddie Anderson’s soccer journey was not always easy, but the Pennridge senior was a study in perseverance and is living proof that there are happy endings.
As a matter of fact, it couldn’t have ended on a higher note for the senior standout, who on Saturday night was honored for her selection to the United Soccer Coaches Regional All-American squad as well as the Pennsylvania Soccer Coaches Association All-State team. Those honors came on the heels of signing a letter of intent in November to play soccer at Saint Joseph’s University.
“One of my favorite expressions is ‘earn your victory,’ and she’s earned her victory,” said Quakertown coach Mike Koch, who coached Anderson on FC Bucks. “She earned it through a lot, a lot of hard work.
“I don’t think I know any kid that works as hard outside of practice, in practice, plays every game like it matters the same, never takes any time off and truly works hard. Another part of her story is – this isn’t a kid that was the best 12-year-old because she wasn’t. She wasn’t what she is now. She definitely worked hard, she has a love for the game, and she has an understanding of the game and made herself dynamic as a player in the midfield.”
Anderson was a catalyst at central midfield on a Pennridge squad that captured the SOL Continental Conference title, the District One 4A championship and advanced to the PIAA 4A state semifinals. Not because of the goals she scored but rather because of her consistently excellent play.
“She was such a strong player with the ball,” said Pennridge coach Audrey Anderson, who also happens to be Maddie’s mother. “Her ability in the air was amazing, and it was not easy for players to get the ball from her.
“She wasn’t a huge goal scorer, but what she did without putting the ball in the back of the net was just as important. She was a very impactful player.”
Ask either mother or daughter about the journey they shared, and both echo similar sentiments.
“I loved it,” Audrey said. “You look at all the tough moments - I think this year especially was a great season for her. She wasn’t a captain, but I think most people would say she was a really great leader on and off the field.
“I think with the experiences she had, she was able to help some of the younger kids. To see both of my kids (Maddie and older sister Gillian) come through the same school I graduated from, the same elementary school, and now Maddie playing soccer at the same high school where I played - it was a special moment.”
Ask Maddie her best high school soccer memory, and she doesn’t point to the championships or accolades.
“Just being able to play for my mom for such an amazing program that has a history of producing so many outstanding players,” Maddie said. “And making so many friendships, especially this year.
“There have been so many people that have been so supportive of me and want to see me succeed. The people who have been there for me helped make it a really good ride.”
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Anderson has no memory of life without Pennridge soccer as a part of it.
“I have been part of the soccer at Pennridge since I was three,” she said. “Being able to watch amazing soccer players my whole entire life like Marissa Sheva at Penn State and Erin Stevenson - just being able to grow up watching those kind of players play really inspired me to be like them.”
From her earliest recollection, Maddie accompanied her mother to her private training sessions.
“From what I can remember, I was at every single session, kicking the ball around,” she said. “Maybe not being able to help yet – I would go pick up her cones, I would chase balls and stuff like that. She’s been such a big part of my development.
“She trains every single age of player, and I think that environment really helped me develop even if I wasn’t training necessarily. A really big part of me growing as a player was just being in an environment like that.”
Maddie still accompanies her mother to training sessions, but her role has changed.
“Every Monday and Tuesday I help her train younger players,” she said. “We go pretty much everywhere, mostly in the Deep Run community.
“We’ll go to the high school or wherever there’s space. If someone wants to train, she’ll say, ‘We’ll find a field.’ She’s done some in people’s backyards.”
Anderson has been playing competitively since she was a youngster, and she found out early on that having her mother as a coach would provide its own unique challenges.
“Once I got to an age where there were A and B teams and my mom was the coach of one of them - people were like, ‘You don’t deserve to be on this team. You’re on this team because it’s your mom,’” Maddie said. “No forth or fifth grader wants to hear – you’re not good enough to be on this team.
“Hearing those kind of things, especially as a young kid, it was like – is this even worth it? I can’t even tell you how many conversations I’ve had with my mom, telling her I don’t know if I can do it, but she’s truly been with me every step of the way, saying ‘You can do it.’ There were definitely times when I’m like ‘I don’t know why I’m doing this.’”
As a freshman, Anderson played for the junior varsity and really wasn’t a fixture in the varsity lineup until her junior year, but things didn’t get any easier.
“Playing at a school like Pennridge where constantly they’re bringing in good players – every year there’s a new group who are awesome, and I feel like it kind of escalated in high school,” she said. “People were saying the same thing – it was just that it was a little bit worse than when I was younger.”
Koch, who coached Anderson on the club level, was one of many coaches there to support her.
“She was able to work through a lot of difficult issues that would have done a lot of lesser people in,” he said. “She definitely paid the price for being the coach’s daughter, and she never stopped competing. She competes as hard as she possibly can all the time. She’s always a good teammate to everybody.”
Listening to Audrey Anderson tell it, none of the things that occurred came as a surprise.
“We had talked when she was getting closer to high school – ‘Hey, do you want to play in high school? It’s going to be tough for you. There’s always that stigma that comes along with being the coach’s kid,’” the Rams’ coach said. “She had a really great support system of coaches. She’s had a lot of people there to help her out that she can talk to.
“It was tough, but life isn’t always easy, and if you want something, you have to push through the hard times to get to a good place.”
“I would do it all over again,” Anderson said. “I didn’t necessarily think it was good at the time, but looking back, I went through a really hard time during my junior year and being able to overcome that helped me a lot later on.”
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Playing collegiate soccer has always been a goal for Anderson, but she wasn’t sure it would become a reality.
“Since I was little, I always was like, ‘I want to play in college,’” Anderson said. “In middle school, I was really clumsy, I didn’t grow into my body yet. I was talking to my mom, and I said, ‘I don’t know if I’ll be able to play in college.’ She said, ‘If you want to play, you have to start training more.’”
Anderson put her nose to the grindstone, and it wasn’t long before she was reaping the dividends.
“I do a lot of college showcase stuff, and I had a lot of college coaches ask – ‘Who’s number 24?’ Koch said of Anderson.
Anderson chose St. Joe’s from an impressive final list that included Delaware, Winthrop, Temple, VCU and Drexel.
“I think the transition from high school to college is going to be really difficult, but I’m just excited to see what the soccer in college is like and how different it is from what I’m used to,” the Pennridge senior said.
Although soccer is her passion, Anderson always puts academics first. She is a member of the National Honor Society and is part of NOVA.
“We went to elementary schools and we talked to students about bullying,” she said. “This year we went to the middle school and talked about drugs and cyber bullying. That was a really cool thing to do. It was something different that I wasn’t expecting because I never had that kind of role model when I was younger to talk about that kind of stuff.”
Anderson plans to major in health sciences and pursue a career in physical therapy, specializing in athletics.
“I want to help athletes specifically prevent injuries or help them recover from them,” she said. “I just feel like being able to help people in that situation is really inspiring to me.”
The final chapter of Anderson’s soccer career is yet to be written, but she has proven she’s a winner and has what it takes to rise to the top no matter the circumstances.
“How many people can tell the same story,” her mother said. “I do a lot of coaching of youth teams in the area, and I say to the parents – ‘It’s not always easy, be patient, stay the course.’
“Here’s a prime example of working for what you want. At the end of the day, she’s excited about where she’s going, she had an amazing senior year. What else can you ask for as a parent? You want to see your kids succeed. She has never had it easy, but it was her road, her journey. It was what she wanted to leave behind and what she wanted to write in her book.
“She could have quit a couple times, she could have given up, but that’s not her. Honestly, I look at all the players that have come through, don’t quit, don’t give up and usually have a very successful program history. I am very proud as a mother and also as a coach that Maddie was able to do it.”
Anderson’s story is one that can inspire other young people.
“The price she paid was pretty high,” Koch said. “All the things she earned – there’s always somebody saying, ‘It’s because…’ That’s why I’m excited for her in college. I believe she’ll be really, really successful.
“Maddie has persevered through a lot of stuff. At the end of the day when all the games are done being played and sport is over – what kind of person you develop into is the most important thing, and she earned her victory.”
