Wake Forest Athletics
Former Wake Soccer Player Brings Deacon Spirit to Holland
11/10/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
Nov. 10, 2010
By Calais Zagarow - WakeForestSports.com
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - While the ACC Champion Wake Forest women's soccer team makes headlines here in the U.S., former Demon Deacon defender Caitlin Farrell is leaving her own mark on Europe.
Farrell, who ranks fourth in Wake Forest history in career starts, is currently playing professionally with FC Twente in the Netherlands.
During her time at Wake Forest, Farrell, was a past of the Deacon back-line that posted a school-record 15 shutouts in 2009, and she earned a highly coveted invitation to play for the U.S. U-23 Women's National Team.
"My experience at Wake was filled with some of the most challenging and rewarding moments of my life," says Farrell. "The unique thing that I was attracted to in the team was how much love there was between the girls. It was so easy for me to give all my heart every game because I knew I was fighting for all my best friends."
At the end of her senior season in the winter of 2009, Farrell was picked by the Philadelphia Independence in the seventh round of the WPS Draft.
She was ecstatic, but knew that being drafted so late might have some repercussions: She would have to delay her graduation by a year, and the situation she was stepping into in Philadelphia was fairly unstable.
"I felt extremely fortunate that they chose me, but I had to be realistic about the situation," says Farrell. "I just felt that, considering the circumstances, I was missing some of the passion that was the main reason for my success as a player in the past. I didn't want to pursue it without my whole heart in it."
After discussing her options with head coach Tony da Luz and the rest of the Wake Forest soccer staff, Farrell opted to decline the Independence's offer.
Throughout the spring semester, Farrell worked toward earning her degree in Communication. Meanwhile, da Luz continued to encourage her to reconsider the option of playing professionally.
"I definitely still loved soccer but I was unsure about where to go with it," says Farrell. "Tony asked me to come play in a game during the spring of 2010 since they were lacking numbers. So, I jumped in and every time I was on the field I remembered how much I loved it."
Farrell was applying for jobs at the time and was committed to finding something to do once she entered the `real world'.
Eventually, she was offered an entry-level position in advertising at Fox Sports. However, once Farrell encountered the summer months that she used to spend training for pre-season, she was overcome with a desire to get back on the field.
"It really hit me that I wanted to try and keep playing," says Farrell. "I was like, 'Wow. I'm missing the worst part of playing, the running on your own and killing yourself to prepare for the season. Obviously this is still something I have a lot of passion for.'"
Farrell contacted da Luz as soon as possible and told him that she wanted to try to play if he could find her a team that had room on their roster.
Within a week, a European agent found a spot for Farrell in The Netherlands with FC Twente. The team happened to need a center-back, and Farrell was exactly the type of player that they were looking for.
A month and some negotiations later, Farrell was on her way to her new home on the other side of the world.
"The club was so welcoming from the first day that we arrived, so I feel very lucky," says Farrell. "The girls on my team are really great and have been so easy to get along with. Everyone speaks at least a little English, so communication has been pretty easy."
So far, Farrell has noticed several differences in the way that her new team practices and trains from what she experienced under Da Luz. While practices at Wake Forest were more flexible, FC Twente has much more time-structured practices.
"We may do 10 minutes of trap passing, then 12 minutes of shooting, then four-to -six minute full-field games and two minute water breaks in between," says Farrell. "At Wake we were a little more in the moment. If things were going well with one drill we ended up doing it longer than expected."
FC Twente also deals with strength and conditioning differently than Farrell's Wake Forest team did.
"Everything revolves around your heart rate, so about twice per week at practice we wear heart rate monitors and our fitness is measured by how quickly our heart can recover from a workout," says Farrell. "It's kind of cool to learn about that side of things, but I must admit, I kind of miss just doing some old fashioned fitness as a team to get in shape."
Although there are several variations in what Farrell experienced at Wake and what she is doing now with FC Twente, she still sees the skills and confidence she gained under da Luz's tutelage in her game.
"Being here with players and coaches that haven't known me for four years meant I had to bring that confidence in my strengths on my own and really show the girls what they could and should expect from me as a player and as a leader," says Farrell. "That's something I never would have been able to do without my experience at Wake."
Although Farrell does not consider herself much of a planner, she knows that she eventually wants to return to the U.S. and pursue her passion for soccer either as a coach or in sports advertising. However, for now, she loves The Netherlands and wants to enjoy playing in Europe while she can.
"I wouldn't mind following in former Wake Forest player and volunteer assistant coach Alena Thom's footsteps by playing in a few other leagues in Europe," says Farrell. "I'm having a lot of fun playing right now, so hopefully I can continue to do it in some way for a while."
