Julia Peterson '16 Recruiting Profile

I play soccer because I love the immense feeling of excitement after my team accomplishes something. Maybe we beat a really good team, scored a goal or just defended really well, but no matter what it is, the happiness and feeling of accomplishment can’t be duplicated doing anything else. It’s the best feeling in the world when I walk off the field at the end of a game, extremely exhausted and it’s so worth it because after all the hard work and pushing through the tough moments of the game, my team was able to earn a well deserved result. I truly believe that hard work pays off and I try to make the most out of every practice and play to my full potential every time I step on the field. Along with working hard at practice, I go to Get Fast, a speed, strength and agility gym a few times a week. This has helped me become a stronger and faster athlete and my continued work at Get Fast will help me become even better.

When people ask me what my favorite position is, I can never seem to choose just one because of the wide variety of positions I can and have played. My primary position is outside back and also sometimes outside midfield but I’ve played every position on the field. I really enjoy these outside positions because I can really utilize my speed to get by players and either get to the endline and serve a ball in or cut inside. I also believe I am good at connecting passes both on the ground and playing balls in the air. I take corner kicks for both my ECNL team and my high school team. When I play outside back, I love to get involved in the attack and play combinations with both the center and outside mids and make overlapping runs. I love playing outside back because it gives me the opportunity to be involved in the attack and get forward, and also to defend, which I love doing. The best feeling in soccer besides scoring a goal is making a strong tackle and cleanly winning the ball back.   

Academically, I have a variety of interests and have a hard time choosing classes because there are so many I want to take. I love the sciences (biology and forensics), social sciences and Spanish. I am interested in being a well-rounded student-athlete and in addition to soccer I would like to participate in other activities such as study abroad and volunteer on campus. I like to challenge myself academically and I choose mostly honors and AP classes. Although playing soccer and having hard classes is very difficult at times, I truly enjoy a challenge.