Player Spotlight: Julia DeVere
Julia was named the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Defender of the Year. She finishes up her four year collegiate career at Seattle Pacific University, helping lead her team to another NCAA playoff game. She reflects on her senior season and youth career with Rangers.
Julia DeVere | Ranger Alumna | Seattle Pacific
Q & A ON HER EXPERIENCE WITH RANGERS and HER SUCCESS AT SEATTLE PACIFIC UNIVERSITY
Q: Congrats on a great season with SPU, reaching the NCAA Playoffs and being awarded the GNAC Conference Defensive Player of the Year. How does it feel to help your team get back into the playoffs and what were you looking forward to most about this post season?
Thank you! Knowing that I was able to contribute to getting my team back to the NCAA tournament means so much to me. I have had such an amazing experience with this program and I feel like it is the least I can do to give back by playing my hardest and contributing in any way that I can. For this postseason, I was most excited to have another opportunity to play alongside my amazing teammates and play the game that I love!
Q: You took on a new position this year, moving from the midfield to outside back. How did you approach this change mentally? Were there any obstacles you faced switching into a new position? What do you like best about this new role?
I was switched to outside back in the spring season this year because of injuries on my team. Mentally, I was very motivated to adjust quickly to outside back because I knew that my team was relying on me. My favorite part of outside back is being able to have intense competition on the defensive side, but also the opportunity to attack up the field as well.
Q: Four goals and a team leading seven assists in the regular season, what has helped you become such an attacking threat this season from the backline?
My team’s style of play has definitely opened up the space for me to attack up the right side and get some goals. My assists are credit to having teammates who are able to finish the passes I give them. I think the most important thing that has helped me get up the field this year is the fact that I was an attacking player for 15 years of soccer; I have maintained that mindset even from a defensive position.
Q: You have had a prolific youth and collegiate career in soccer, what do you think is one of the most important things that this sport has brought into your life?
By far the best thing that soccer has brought me is the relationships. Both in youth soccer and now at a collegiate level, my closest friends have been teammates. The friends I have made on my team at SPU are lifelong and I am so thankful that this sport brought us together.
Q: Looking back on your club days with WFC Rangers, what is your favorite memory from all of your years with this club?
Like I just mentioned, my favorite memory from being a Ranger was the relationships that I built with my teammates. My team was very unique in that the core of our team, about 10 girls or so, stayed the same from U12 all the way to U18. Because of that, we had incredible bonds on and off the field. I was also greatly impacted by Drew Smiley, who coached us for the last few years and led us to compete for a state title in our last year as U18s.
Q: How did Rangers help you prepare for your four years playing college soccer at SPU?
Rangers allowed me to compete at a very high level. Because of that, I felt prepared for the speed of play that occurs at a college level and I was ready to compete at that level. Rangers allowed me to transition to the collegiate level with considerable ease.
Q: What was the best advice you ever received as a player? Do you have any advice for aspiring Ranger girls soccer players as they follow in your footsteps?
The best advice that I ever received as a soccer player was from my head coach at SPU (Arby Busey), who told me to just be me. He reminded me that I have gotten to the level that I am at because throughout my whole career, I have played to my best strengths and have remembered what my skills are. He told me not to lose sight of that and to play true to who I know that I am.
Q: Do you have any advice for aspiring Ranger girls soccer players as they follow in your footsteps?
For any Rangers looking to follow in my footsteps, I would say something similar. I was never the most skilled or the strongest or the smartest, but I was always the hardest worker. I knew that about myself and I vowed to always play that way. No matter what your unique skill set may be, if you always bringing those skills to the game, you will go farther than you could ever imagine!
