SR's Boyd extends her soccer career
SLIPPERY ROCK — It was a cold early November evening at Harbor Creek High School when Harley Boyd walked slowly off the soccer field for what she thought was the last time.
Boyd, a senior, and her teammates on the Slippery Rock girls soccer team had just suffered a loss to Villa Maria in the District 10 semifinals.
“I was sad to be done,” Boyd said. “I wasn’t planning on playing in college.”
Since she was barely old enough to run, Boyd had played soccer. Through the years, she developed into one of the best midfielders in District 10 then made a sudden — and unexpected — switch to forward in her final season.
The moved paid off for the Rockets and for Boyd. After the shake-up, she scored a team-leading 17 goals and helped Slippery Rock go 12-2-1 in its next 15 matches before the loss to Villa.
Still, Boyd was ready to put her soccer cleats away for good until fate intervened — and Mercyhurst University-North East came calling.
“They sent a letter to the school, which was forwarded to me,” Boyd said. “I was interested and they ended up pursuing me.”
Suddenly, Boyd was a soccer player again.
“I’m just really happy,” she said. “When I thought I wasn’t going to play, I thought I was OK with that. But now that I know I will be playing, it’s just so great.”
The question now is where will she be playing.
Boyd proved her versatility last season by making the switch from midfield to forward.
“We knew Harley could shoot. We knew she could dribble,” said Slippery Rock girls soccer coach Les Smith. “ So we thought, ‘Why are we playing her at right-middle?’”
Boyd was a bit leery of the move at first — midfield was all she had known. She quickly warmed to the change, however.
“It changed the way I played a lot,” Boyd said. “I never had the mindset of a scorer. I was happy to assist everyone else. Once I moved to forward, I had to change that, and I was able to do it.
“I think it made me a better player,” she added.
Boyd said her senior season was special for more reasons than just her new role.
The way the Rockets responded after a disastrous start is something she said she will always remember.
Slippery Rock upset Harbor Creek in double overtime in the first round of the district playoffs.
“It was very satisfying,” Boyd said. “No one thought our team would make the playoffs, let alone make the second round.”
Mercyhurst-North East is a two-year junior college. Boyd said she hopes to move on to a four-year soccer program once her time there is done.
Soccer is in her blood again.
“I would like to do that,” she said, “if other schools want me.”
