Madison McWhinney knew from a young age that she wanted to play soccer in college. That goal will soon become a reality as the recent Emmaus High School graduate committed last year to continue her career at Elizabethtown College.

“I have played soccer since I was four-years old and always just loved it and always knew I wanted to play college soccer,” she said in a recent email interview.

McWhinney was part of an up and coming Emmaus team that improved over all three seasons she spent on the team. The Hornets posted one of the biggest regular-season wins in program history last fall when they snapped Parkland’s 70-game win streak over District 11 teams with a 2-1 win over the Trojans.

McWhinney made the varsity roster as a sophomore and was a starter her final two years of high school. As a holding center mid, her job was to win 50-50 balls and distribute them to teammates.

In college she, expects to have a similar role for the Blue Jays but is willing to do whatever the team needs.

“You never know where you will play for college,” she said. “You have to be ready for anything. For my club team I play center back and if that’s where they want me to play in college then that’s where I will play.”

Her goals for college are very team oriented. She hopes to earn playing time during her freshman season and eventually, over her four-year career she wants to help the team win some titles.

“I am coming in knowing that I have to work hard and work my way into the starting lineup,” she said. “I hope to get on the field at some point as a freshman. Throughout my college career I want to work hard to be a starter and hope that I can help my team to win some championships.”

The winner of the Coaches Award for her team last year, McWhinney feels that the experience and training she received at Emmaus will benefit her at the next level.

“Playing for [Emmaus head coach Sarah Oswald] made me work harder and work to earn my spot as a starter,” McWhinney said. “I also played a different role and different playing style for high school than I did for my club team. So it was important to listen to your coach and work hard. Everything that you can learn from all your coaches that you have will always make you a better player.”

She also feels prepared in the classroom, where she took honors classes at EHS and was a member of the National Honor Society.

But the best part of McWhinney’s high school experience was sharing it with a group of friends and teammates that she met early in her soccer career.

“I am really fortunate that I was able to find such great friends while playing the game that I love,” she said.

She is doing college workouts with former Hornet teammates Alexa Ryan and Lauren Latchford, who is headed to Moravian and will play against McWhinney for the next four years. Latchford and another EHS grad, Morgan Dill, are currently on McWhinney’s club team.

“All of us right now are doing what we can to hang out with the current situation going on and just trying to stay close until we leave for college,” McWhinney said. “We all share the love of the game and we had a great years playing with each other, but now it is time to move on to the next chapter of our lives.”