Abbey Gore entered her junior year at Westminster College with something gnawing at her.

It had been there for some time. A feeling. A foreboding. A belief that she wasn't going all-in and giving everything she had to soccer at Westminster College.

So, the Knoch graduate made a difficult choice.

After the preseason workouts were over and with a new season dawning, Gore walked into her coach's office and said she was done.

She was walking away from a sport she had played since she was 5.

“It was hard,” Gore said. “But the coaches were supportive.”

Gore admits she is a person who needs to give 100% to something and at the time she didn't feel she was doing that.

“It wasn't fair to me, my coaches or my teammates,” Gore said. “After playing soccer all my life — it was the only thing I did — I was just kind of done. My heart wasn't in it.”

For two years — the 2014 and 2015 seasons — Gore's heart made her one of the best defenders in the Presidents' Athletic Conference for the Titans.

Twice she made the all-conference team and was named defender/goalkeeper of the week on several occasions.

Playing defense was a thankless job at times, but one Gore did with her usual aplomb.

Despite only playing those two years, Gore was named to the Westminster women's soccer all-decade team last week.

She found out like everyone else — when she read the release from the school.

“I was surprised,” Gore said. “I only played two seasons there, so it was nice to be recognized.”

Gore wasn't always the fierce defender she turned out to be at Knoch and then at Westminster.

In her younger days, Gore was hesitant to mix it up on defense because she was “a nice girl.”

But when she was 12 her father told her it was time to get down to business.

She listened.

“Something clicked,” Gore said. “I guess I needed that permission.”

Between the lines Gore could be aggressive, physical and play with an edge.

Off the pitch, she could be the nice girl.

That formula worked for Gore, who blended competitiveness and grit to become a stellar defender.

“I didn't have the best foot skills,” Gore said. “But I had the determination to do anything I needed to do to keep the other team from scoring.

“In high school, you don't get the attention for being a defender,” Gore added. “In college, I noticed there was more recognition. When we got a shutout, they'd mention the goalkeeper and the defenders who made that possible. It was nice.”

One of the main reasons why Gore left soccer was because of her demanding major.

Gore studied to become a pediatric occupational therapist and recently got her master's degree in that field from Duquesne University.

For awhile she had no second thoughts about walking away from soccer.

“I didn't really miss it until after college was over,” Gore said. “At Duquesne I played some pick-up games and it brought back some of those old memories and feelings.”

Gore, now 24, still dabbles in soccer from time to time.

During the pandemic she participated in an online challenge with her younger sister, Allie, juggling a soccer ball.

“It was like riding a bike,”Abbey Gore said.

Gore, though, isn't in the business of second-guessing.

“I'm not sure I would have done anything differently,” she said. “I have no regrets.”