Contributors, Kerri Kosten, Local Sports, Sports, University

COLUMN: Kassidy Wolfe enjoying her time at West Liberty

MORGANTOWN — Kassidy Wolfe fell in love with soccer because of her older sister.

“I first got into soccer by going to my older sister’s soccer practices and games,” she said. “At her practices and games, I would try and walk and kick the soccer ball, which eventually is how I finally learned how to walk. But at the age of 4, my dad registered me to play u6 soccer which is when I actually started playing.”

Her sister was not the only influence on Wolfe’s soccer career growing up.

“Always growing up, I always looked up to Abbie Wambach and Hope Solo, but as I have gotten older I have started looking up to Hannah Abraham. She coached my final year of high school which was something that I had always hoped would happen. Getting sessions with her through this crazy time, she has push and pushed me to become a better soccer player and I’m so thankful.”

A Morgantown native, Wolfe is a 2020 graduate of University High.

She recently finished her freshman season at West Liberty.

As a freshman, Wolfe helped West Liberty defeat Wheeling when she had the first assist of her college career which led to a goal.

“It was great to accomplish something like that in my game of my freshman year,” she said.

She played in a total of eight games, starting two. She had three shots, including one shot on goal.

“One memorable experience is starting my very first game of the season and playing a great amount of time.”

Wolfe is happy with how her freshman season went and is looking forward to being a sophomore.

“I believe it went well, but there is always room for improvement,” she said. “I cannot wait to be back out on the pitch.”

As a Hawk, she was named first team all-state as well as all-region.

Wolfe feels playing soccer at West Liberty is different from UHS.

“Playing at West Liberty is a lot more demanding and competitive,” she said.

She said COVID has made things challenging.

“It was definitely different throughout COVID. It was very difficult staying six feet apart while playing a contact sport but we made do. Wearing a mask during practice was a struggle at times (especially in the super hot weather) but we all fought through it to keep us all healthy and able to have a season.”

Playing soccer in the spring instead of the fall was also different.

“Being club soccer and in the spring felt different.”

Wolfe chose to attend West Liberty for a few reasons.

“I decided to attend West Liberty because it was a smaller campus and a smaller class ratio. It just felt like home after touring the campus a couple of times.”

“Something I like most about attending West Liberty is it just seems like a huge family. Everyone there is nice.”

She is majoring in Speech Pathology and Audiology.

“I plan to attend Audiology grad school at WVU and hopefully get a job somewhere in Morgantown,” Wolfe said.

Wolfe said the transition from high school to college has gone well.

“The transition is a little different but not much,” she said. “The biggest difference is probably being in a classroom with students that are actually there wanting to get an education, where high school not everyone was there for the same reason I was.”

In her spare time, Wolfe enjoys hanging out with her friends and family.

She is the daughter of Kristie and Rob Wolfe.