The Waynesburg University women’s soccer team is off to a 5-3-2 start.

Two of the biggest reasons for the Jackets’ success are sophomore forward Emily Hill, who leads the team with four goals, and junior goalkeeper Courtney Syfert, who’s allowed just 14 goals in 10 games thus far.

Both Hill and Syfert were familiar with each other well before arriving at Waynesburg, having played soccer together since middle school and through four years at Richland High School in Johnstown.

When Hill arrived at Waynesburg University last fall, Syfert had been at Waynesburg for a year, and Hill was excited to be reunited with her former teammate.

“It was pretty great,” Hill said. “[I] knew coming in that I’d at least know somebody [at Waynesburg]. I’d played with Courtney for almost my whole life, so it was really cool to continue playing soccer with her and extending my career.”

Hill and Syfert are part of a large network of players from the eastern part of Pennsylvania. Those two, along with sophomore defender Emily Facci—who is one of Syfert’s roommates—all played at Richland. Freshman midfielder Lea Holtz is also from Johnstown and played for one of Richland’s rivals, Bishop-McCourt. Sophomore forward Amelia Beland; who developed a close friendship with Hill in high school, is from Bedford. Sophomore midfielder Maddie Walker is from Shanksville, which is roughly 20 minutes away from Somerset.

Head coach Laura Heethuis said that junior midfielder Teagan Jenner, a native of Berlin, Pennsylvania, was among her first recruits from the area. Since then, Heethuis has developed a bond with schools that are located in eastern Pennsylvania.

“Anywhere you start to recruit, you start to build relationships,” Heethuis said. “Whether those relationships are with players and their friends that are still in high school, or if it’s relationships with coaches. I have a really good relationship with Richland, Somerset, Bedford, those coaches that I try to keep in contact with next year about kids to keep watching.”

Several members of the team knew each other in high school not as teammates, but opponents. Syfert and junior defender Hannah Sembower, who went to Somerset High School, played against each other frequently. The two developed a friendship in high school, and when they arrived at Waynesburg in the fall of 2016, they roomed together. Syfert was happy that the two finally had a chance to play on the same team at Waynesburg.

“It was definitely exciting,” she said. “You go from being [rivals] and then become teammates so you know their style of play. It was cool to actually get a chance to finally play with her instead of against her.”

Like Syfert and Sembower, Hill and Beland were both opponents in high school. Having developed a friendship before coming to Waynesburg last fall, Hill feels that her and Beland, as well as others from the area, now being on the same team has strengthened their bond.

“You look at them not as a rival, but a teammate,” Hill said. “So it’s really cool to get to know them more as a person and you’re the relationship is growing.”

Both Beland, Holtz and Sembower all played for rival schools before coming to Waynesburg, and were familiar with each other to the point where when Holtz visited Waynesburg while still in high school, she recognized Sembower from their high school days.

Earlier this season, the Yellow Jackets were shorthanded on defense, and Sembower knew that Holtz, normally a midfielder, was capable of defending since she had done it at Bishop-McCourt. Since then, Holtz has started two games for the Jackets as a freshman.

Sembower feels that those on the team who were familiar with each other before coming to Waynesburg know the capabilities of one another, and that has helped the program.

“That’s definitely something that helped,” Sembower said. “Not just with the [team] chemistry, but that we know how each other plays and the playing styles that we came from.”
For Heethuis, players who developed a relationship before coming to Waynesburg having a chance to continue that bond is unique, and will benefit the program going forward.

“It’s really exciting to see a group of girls that knew each other coming and that kind of set a foundation of what it means to be on a team here at Waynesburg and what our culture is going to be,” Heethuis said. “So they’ve helped those freshman kind of learn the ropes so to speak. That’s really helped with relationships on and off the field.