ESPN RISE

Editor's Note: This story appears in the November 2009 Greater Seattle issue of ESPN RISE Magazine.

[+] Enlarge

ESPN RISE Magazine

Seattle cover girl Emily Hurd will travel to Penn State for her college career.

It's Monday morning and Emily Hurd is getting ready for another challenging week. It will be an unusual one for a high school senior. She'll take classes with older students and train against boys on the soccer field. That's because Hurd, the 2008-09 Gatorade State Player of the Year, is not actually attending high school.

Hurd, who is technically a senior at Eastlake (Sammamish, Wash.), opted to take part in a college-prep program called "Running Start" so she could accelerate her development on and off the field. Academically, it allows the 17-year-old to take college-level courses, tuition-free, at Bellevue Community College. Athletically, it frees her up to train with her under-18 team at the elite Crossfire Premier Soccer Club. Her plan is simple: to play on the U.S. Women's National Team.

"It was a really hard decision because I really liked playing high school soccer with the girls and the coaches," Hurd says. "But for me, I wanted to get better as a player. I had this opportunity to focus on the technique part of my game with all this individualized training."

Hurd's high school coach for three years, Chuck Krieble, is quick to praise his former best player but is up-front about the fact that he worries about her social development not playing in a more relaxed environment with her peers.

"There are only a handful of girls who can do what she does," Krieble says. "She's like a female middle linebacker. She's very strong and real eager to take people on. On one hand, I applaud her ambition, but I'm losing a player with those talents."

Hurd's Crossfire coach, Dick McCormick, says there was no upside to her competing in high school anymore.

"For a girl who wants to play top-level college, be a starter right from the get-go and be on the National Team," McCormick says, "playing high school as a senior against juniors and sophomores at a lower level isn't necessarily the best thing. Crossfire is a better environment for her right now."

One thing everyone can agree on is that Hurd, a forward/midfielder, is one of the nation's best players. Her résumé speaks for itself. In addition to her Gatorade honor, Hurd was named The Seattle Times Class 4A Player of the Year, Associated Press state Player of the Year and an ESPN RISE All-American after finishing the 2008 season with 19 goals and 12 assists.

As a freshman in 2006, Hurd was on an Eastlake team that finished third at state. The next year the Wolves went 19-0, captured the Class 4A state title and finished the fall No. 6 in the NSCAA/adidas national rankings.

Hurd's journey to the top of the 2010 class began at age 3 when she started playing sports, attending soccer, softball and basketball camps. She even took up ballet, which improved her flexibility. Early on, her parents realized she was a natural athlete.

[+] Enlarge

Kevin Casey/ESPN RISE

After a junior season in which she scored 19 goals, Hurd was named an ESPN RISE All-American.

"A couple of the skills that we noticed were her attack-first mindset, quick reflexes and her ability to go from zero to a full sprint in just a few steps," says Hurd's mother, Suzanne.

Hurd was most intrigued with soccer, though, and started watching pro-level games -- even following the English Premier League -- at an unusually young age. At Hurd's first Crossfire tryout for the under-11 team, McCormick remembers meeting a very tough, goal-oriented kid.

"We were playing in the championship game of an under-11 tournament, and she wasn't warming up," McCormick says. "She was just walking around looking very serious. And I go, 'Emily, what's going on?' She says, 'I'm focusing to kill the other team.' I said, 'That's a fantastic attitude.' Her mentality is very strong."

That was especially evident after her freshman year of high school, when she tore ligaments in her ankle during a game and had to sit for a few weeks. The timing couldn't have been worse because the U.S. Youth Soccer Olympic Development Program was going on, and she was hoping to qualify for an elite regional team. Then, right when she was cleared to play, one of her cleats got stuck in the turf during a practice while she was dribbling the ball. Hurd dislocated her other ankle and needed to wear a boot for about three months.

"When you have something taken away from you, it kind of makes you realize if you really want it or not," Hurd says. "When I saw everyone else playing, I was like, 'I need to be out there. I need to keep working to get better.'"

McCormick says Hurd is one of the best shooters in the country and can smash the ball with both feet. He also admires her passing and crossing. But right now, his focus is to help her control, dribble and trap the ball better in high-pressure situations. Which is one of the reasons that in addition to technical training two days a week, he has his girls play against Crossfire boys' teams on the other days.

Crossfire, which is sanctioned by the Elite Clubs National League, starts its season in mid-to-late November after high school soccer has concluded. Hurd is the only girl on her under-18 team not playing in high school. McCormick thought her decision to train exclusively with the club team would limit her fatigue and injuries.

Hurd is also involved with community service at Crossfire. She coaches at summer camps, works in the merchandise store, hands out bagged lunches to the homeless and cleans the sides of the freeways.

When she's not committed to the club's activities, she likes going to the movies and playing soccer with her two sisters, Rachel, 19, and Natalie, 14. The three sisters compete on a turf field in their backyard, accompanied by a rebounding net that their father built for them. Rachel plays at Clemson, while Natalie competes with Crossfire.

Hurd will be following Rachel to the college ranks, as she has verbally committed to Penn State, which has won 11 straight Big Ten championships. Hurd is thinking about majoring in sports journalism and would love to be on ESPN one day. She may get her television exposure even sooner than that.

"Since I've been a little kid," Hurd says, "I've always wanted to be a part of the world soccer atmosphere and play for my country."

Jared Zwerling covers high school sports for ESPN RISE Magazine.