Oct. 26, 2010
Throughout the 2010 season, Penn State will feature a student athlete before every home game. The feature will appear in the game program for Indiana match. PSU takes on the Hoosiers on Thursday at 7 p.m.
By Kaitlyn Knopp, GoPSUsports.com Writer
Born and raised in Nottinghamshire, England, the Nittany Lion women's soccer team defender Emma Thomson praises the team and coaches at Penn State, despite differences in playing styles she is accustomed to in Europe.
"Soccer is bigger in England than it is in the United States," Thomson said. "I had to be a lot fitter and stronger here, but soccer is soccer at the end of the day."
Thomson, a junior in the College of Health and Human Development as a kinesiology major, said her love of soccer developed in England at a young age.
"I've always kind of played with my brother and his friends since I was young," Thomson said. "I've grown up watching it, I've grown up playing it."
Before her career at Penn State University, Thomson played with Retford United and the Doncaster Rovers Belles in England, and received numerous awards and recognitions such as the Player's Player and Manager's Player of the Year with Doncaster, and being named Young Player of the Year in 2007.
Coming to the Nittany Lions, Thomson stayed in stride and was named Fourth Team Freshman All-American in 2008 by Soccer Buzz. She played in all 24 games, starting 22 as a defender her freshman year, and she scored her first career goal against Minnesota, leading the Nittany Lions to win in a 2-1 victory, giving the Nittany Lions their fifth Big Ten Tournament Championship.
"I've had the opportunity to receive a lot of these recognitions," Thomson said. "Through opportunity and commitment. I would say that's how I got them."
As a sophomore on the team in 2009, she started and played in 20 games, and earned such accolades as the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week, and being named to the Academic All-Big Ten team. More recently, she was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the week again this past Monday for her sterling play at Illinois.
Thomson said she has always played as midfielder or defender, and given a choice she would be defender, which is her usual starting position on the Nittany Lions team. Thomson said there are some technical differences in styles between European soccer and the United States soccer, but she had only positive things to say about the coaching and practice techniques used by the Nittany Lion team.
"I really like the intensity of our coaches and I get along with them really well," Thomson said. "It helps on the field and off the field."
This year, coming back at 20 years old and a junior, Thomson is a team captain. She said the honor is a lot of responsibility, perhaps even more so than she first realized. As captain though, Thomson said she does her best to put her teammates in perspective of what they are there to do, which is to win the game.
"I try to motivate the team with words and actions on the field," Thomson said. "This season is a huge learning curve and a huge test for the team."
Thomson said she thinks the team will continue to do well this year, even though the team has suffered some losses. As a captain, she said she will worry when the team has a bad game or a bad practice, but she has "no doubt in mind" over the ability of the team, she simply thinks the team needs to focus on the goal.
"Everyone has beaten everyone in the Big Ten," Thomson said. "The team has learned a lot from where we've come from."
For Thomson, the team has become somewhat of a family, and is the closest team she said she has ever been on. This was something she said made the transition from England easier.
"It helped having other freshmen coming from other places that were just as far away." Thomson said, her English accent discernable but mild. "There were people from Washington State, California, Nevada - all over."
Thomson's own parents have never seen her play a game at Penn State, but she goes home to England every summer and Christmas to visit.
After her career with the Nittany Lions, Thomson said she would love to continue on with soccer and to do so in Europe. She said it goes back to their style of play being different, as well as her desire to travel.
Thomson made it clear that despite a yearning to go to a different country to pursue soccer, she gets a lot of enjoyment out of attending and playing with Penn State.
"I love the pride and commitment at Penn State," Thomson said. "You really realize what goes into being a team."
--NITTANY LIONS--