The USF women’s soccer team made a comeback in the second half of their match against San Jose State University on Sept. 19.
The Spartans came out firing, scoring a goal just over five minutes into the game and keeping the Dons off the board for the entire first half.
Leading the team in the second half was freshman Kate Zimmerman, who scored her first collegiate goal at 53:17 and less than three minutes later she received a pass from teammate, Lindsey Chau, and scored her second goal of the night, winning the game against San Jose State and setting the foundation for her college career.
“Our game against San Jose was definitely not our best performance and we created a lot of opportunities. We had over twenty shots on goal, but only scored two, so we obviously had the chances. We just didn’t capitalize on all of them, but a win is a win,” said Zimmerman, who is a freshman kinesiology major.
She added, “We came out in the second half looking a lot better as a whole group. Kaitlyn [Sasadeusz] played me the ball through, and I dribbled past a couple defenders and took a shot from outside the box and it went in. It was really really exciting because that was my first collegiate goal, so that was amazing.”
Following Zimmerman’s performance, she was named West Coast Conference women’s soccer player of the week on Sept. 23, making her the first athlete at USF to receive that honor this fall.
“It’s just super exciting, I am just super grateful for the opportunity and that award. I think the best feeling was knowing that I made all my friends and family proud, and I was able to help win the game for my team,” she said.
“My dad has always wanted athletic children, so he kinda got me into sports ever since I was probably like four or five, and then soccer just kinda stuck with me.”
“Actually the first year I played soccer I hated it so much, and then my parents put me back in the next year to try again and it ended up being my favorite thing in the world,” said Zimmerman.
Throughout her early years, Zimmerman was involved in club soccer and later joined her high school team at McClatchy High School before being scouted by USF during the summer of her junior year.
“They emailed me after the surf cup, which is one of the tournaments we compete in, and they said they were interested and wanted to bring me on the campus and see if I liked the school. Honestly, at first I was kind of hesitant because I didn’t know if I wanted [to attend] such a small school, but after seeing the campus and meeting the people it was perfect for me. I committed a month after that.” said Zimmerman.
As a freshman dedicated to her role as an athlete on the team, she has found strategies to balance her intense weekly practice schedule with her academics.
“We are usually up by like 5:30 [a.m.], but everything is usually done by 10:00 a.m. and then I have the rest of the day for my classes. The schedule has been nice and it has taught me a lot about time management and not procrastinating,” said Zimmerman.
She’s also built a community with the team. According to Zimmerman, the team sets time aside each week to do at least one social activity outside of soccer. Some of their social events include grabbing ice cream, movie nights, s’mores and even catching a baseball game or concert together.
“We did smores and karaoke the same night and that was really fun because we have a Swedish teammate who’s never had a s’more before so we had to do it for her.”
With eight games left in the season, Zimmerman and her teammates are practicing Monday through Friday, spending three days a week doubling up with both weight training and field practices in preparation for the second half of the season.
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