Over the past few years, the Harriton Girl’s Soccer team has continually improved, thanks in large part to senior goalie Ali Herman. This year they have finally made it to the district playoffs, where they will face Upper Perkiomen in the quarterfinals. This is the team’s first year as a class AA school in the Central League, (finishing the year with a 5-5-1 record in Central League play), making it an even more exciting development. This will obviously be a huge opportunity for Ali to show off her talents in a tough situation, before she heads off to Northwestern next year. “I think we have a really great chance to come from behind and knock out the opponents we need to in order to make it to States. We have worked really hard this year to get to this point and I really think we are ready!”
Ever since joining the team during her freshman year, Ali Herman has made her impact known on the team, starting at goalie since day one. It wasn’t always this way for her though, she never grew up wanting to play goalie, but when the opportunity arose she stood up to the challenge. “I was in 6th grade, and our team didn’t have a goalie. And at the time I was tall for my age, so I decided to give it a try. I stuck with it, since I really enjoyed it”. Though no longer tall for her age, Ali has continued to flourish at the goalie position. Earlier last year she was offered a scholarship from Northwestern to play soccer for their team.
Since the summer before her junior year, Ali had an eye on Northwestern, and as it turns out they had an eye on her too. That summer, Ali had gone to a summer camp there to show off her skills to the coaches there and to get the experience of living at a college for a summer. After repeated contact between her local coaches and those at Northwestern, she made a verbal commitment to attend during her junior year. Northwestern had already been near the top of her list of colleges, and after receiving the offer to play soccer, it jumped to the top of her list. “When I was looking at colleges, I was searching for somewhere I could play soccer and I really liked the campus at Northwestern” she said. Now that she has her entire college process nearly settled, she can get back to focusing on her senior year of IB.
In the midst of her senior year of the International Baccalaureate program at Harriton, Ali remains supportive of her decision to enter the program. “You definitely get a good perspective on international and discussion based learning” she said, when asked about her experience. Though she is not taking advantage of the program’s international diploma, she will take her wonderful understanding with her to Northwestern. Along with soccer, Ali is also involved in Model United Nations and was also part of constructing the stage for the Harriton Theater Company last year.
Ali, like many other Juniors and Seniors, is supportive of the new building, despite retaining nostalgia for the old one “I spent two years in the old building, so obviously I was kind of attached to it. I liked being able to go outside, but this building offers a lot of things to everyone that the old building did not,” she added.
Excited for the chance to lead her team into the district playoffs and for the rest of her senior year of high school, Ali continues to have a positive outlook. She’s happy to have had such wonderful experiences with the Harriton team and can’t wait to begin her collegiate career at Northwestern.