SWOSU soccer player finds her place

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  • SWOSU soccer player finds her place
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SWOSU goalkeeper Kirstyn Dill is from Austin, Texas, and was a four-sport athlete as she played soccer, volleyball, basketball and ran track in high school.

“Playing different types of sports teaches you how to move your body and use different types of your body for different things,” Dill said. “Also, you learn how to interact and talk to different types of people and playing sports gives you a lot of connections and friends to hang out with.”

Dill went to James Bowie High School in Austin and was unsure she would play soccer in college. Her dad convinced her to come to a camp at SWOSU in the summer of 2018. She met SWOSU head coach Mark Persson and some of her future teammates. She toured the campus and really enjoyed her visit at SWOSU.

“After the camp, coach Persson offered me a scholarship and I accepted the scholarship.” Dill said. “I was really excited after my visit at SWOSU because Weatherford is a much smaller town than Austin. It was cool to get a different small town feel.”

Dill officially committed to SWOSU, November 16, 2018.

“It has been really cool coming to a new state, but I loved growing up in Austin and enjoyed going to James Bowie High School,” Dill said. “James Bowie is about the same size as SWOSU was and soccer was super competitive. It also is competitive here and has been super cool meeting girls who play soccer at SWOSU from other states such as New Mexico and Oklahoma.”

Dill said she plays sports and always is motivated to be the best soccer player and person she can be.

“I enjoy having competition and pushing myself to be the best person I can be,” Dill said. “Through athletics, I want to play at the highest level I can and keep getting better.”

Dill said her favorite memory of playing soccer at SWOSU in 2019 was beating Oklahoma Baptist 2-0 in the Great American Conference championship game at home.

“A week before the championship game, we played Oklahoma Baptist at home,” Dill said. “We had to tie of win the game to host the tournament at our home field. We tied them 0-0 and got to host the tournament, but they beat us 1-0 earlier in the season. Beating them 2-0 and winning the conference was really special and exciting since that is the only team we lost to in the conference. I loved getting our rings as well.”

Dill said she really likes playing soccer for coach Persson and it is nice to have one head coach instead of multiple ones like she did growing up.

“Coach Persson is a really good coach and I enjoy playing for him,” Dill said. “Growing up, I had a lot of different coaches and it is nice to have one main coach telling me what his thoughts on how I played or what I need to improve on.”

Dill said some advice she would give freshman is to be confident, ready to play and to be in shape.

“Make sure you are in shape and if you get a month off due to COVID-19 again, make sure you stay in shape, because practice will be tougher if you are not” Dill said. “Another thing I would say is just be excited and be confident in your athletic ability. It should not be scary or intimidating because you are here for a reason.”