Site last updated: Friday, April 19, 2024

Log In

Reset Password
MENU
Butler County's great daily newspaper

Back in the game

Freeport High School and Grove City College graduate Samantha Weber has had an interesting journey, both on and off the soccer pitch. Weber, who now lives in San Francisco, recently tried out and made the San Francisco WPSL team.
Weber joins soccer team in San Fran

SAN FRANCISCO — Samantha Weber is an adventurer.

Whether it is building a start-up company from scratch, trekking through Europe and writing a book about her travels to honor her deceased brother to purchasing a last-minute ticket to Sunday’s FIFA Women’s World Cup Final, Weber is bold.

“I’ve always been impulsive,” Weber says, laughing.

And Weber is always busy.

She’ll be even busier now.

Weber, a Freeport High School and Grove City College graduate, will add “soccer player” back to her long and eclectic resumé.

Weber was a standout player for the Yellowjackets in high school — when she wasn’t battling injuries.

At Grove City College, she also excelled, scoring 30 goals to go with seven assists in four years as a starter for the Wolverines.

She thought her competitive playing days were over when she took off her Grove City College jersey for the last time late in the fall of 2013 and then had surgery to repair both ankles.

But opportunity came calling again, this time in the form of the Women’s Premiere Soccer League.

Weber tried out for and made the San Francsico Nighthawks roster. She will play in her first game next weekend.

“When I moved out here back in the fall, I was still recovering from ankle injuries and was still trying to find a job,” Weber said. “When the World Cup started, I was super into that and I really began missing playing soccer a lot. It got me thinking, ‘I really want to play again.’”

So Weber reached out to another former Grove City College women’s soccer player who was playing in the WPSL in Washington, D.C., Elise Bender, and asked her if there was a team in the San Francisco area.

Once she discovered the Nighthawks, she sent an email to the club with her soccer resume and asked for a tryout.

“I thought if they did get back to me, they might offer me a tryout in the fall or something,” Weber said. “But they sent an email asking if I could try out tomorrow.

“I was like, ‘Yes!’” Weber added.

Then Weber realized she had a work conflict and had to push the tryout back a week.

Weber was put through her paces Thursday night — just a day before she was set to get on a flight to Vancouver to see the World Cup Final — and was placed on the roster immediately.

“It was amazing,” Weber said.

Weber’s journey over the past several years has been just as adventurous.

While at Grove City College, she was struck with an idea to make a mobile platform to help high school soccer players connect with college soccer coaches during the recruiting process.

And ProfilePasser was born.

Her endeavor was funded by AlphaLab in Pittsburgh and was recognized by Inc. Magazine as one of the “coolest college startups” in 2014.

While ProfilePasser hit a snag in funding since, Weber is relaunching the company soon.

Last year, she hiked through Europe, following the path her brother, U.S. Air Force Airman 1st Class Zachary Weber, took on his journies while stationed overseas.

Zachary Weber died in 2007 in an accident on a similar hike.

Samantha Weber decided to write a book about her brother and her journey. The first draft is completed.

In the immediate future, Weber is excited to see the U.S. take on Japan Sunday.

“I have tickets in the second row behind the goal,” Weber said, laughing. “I’m way too emotionally invested in this.”

More in High School

Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter

* indicates required
TODAY'S PHOTOS