Allison Porter, a former soccer player for Montezuma-Cortez High School and a senior at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, played for a U.S. soccer team in Brazil in June.
From May 28 through June 7, she traveled to Brazil and played for a U.S. women’s team composed of 16 NCAA Division III players from 11 schools.
“While in Brazil, we played four games against Brazilian teams, Porter told The Journal in an email. “Two games were played in São Paulo, and two in Rio de Janeiro. We were 2-2 with all four games.”
The team was coached by Jim Conlon, of 2016 Division III champion Washington University-St. Louis.
“Playing in Brazil representing the United States of America was an honor,” Porter said. “The culture in Brazil was amazing. After each game, we would trade T-shirts/jerseys with the other players and take pictures. It was definitely a lifetime experience that I will never forget.”
Porter began playing NCAA Division III soccer for the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, located in Belton, Texas, in fall 2013. A four-year starter on the Mary Hardin soccer team, Porter scored 18 career goals including four game-winners, racked up 14 assists, and went 2-for-2 in penalty kicks. She finished her junior year with seven goals, four assists and two game-winners, according to Mary Hardin-Baylor.
Her team finished third in the 2017 American Southwest Conference tournament, with a 7-3 record in conference play. Porter, one of nine seniors on the team, was a left midfielder and a forward. She also was named to the American Southwest all-conference first team and her college’s all-academic team for fall.
She will graduate with a bachelor’s degree in nursing in December.
“Playing for the UMHB women’s soccer program was truly a dream come true,” she told The Journal in an email. “All my life, I chased the dream of playing college soccer, and that dream had finally came true. It is the one thing that taught several different things in life: teamwork, determination and dedication.”