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To earn a college scholarship to play soccer, it is often expected of players to pick up the game from a very young age and develop in their formative years. This is not Allie Foster’s story as she signed to play at Point University on Friday after deciding to come out for soccer for the first time during her freshman season at Troup High.

“I didn’t want my time playing soccer to end this year, so I reached out to Point to see if they would be interested in coming to one of our practices and they came out and then invited me to one of their practices,” Foster said. 

It has been a remarkable rise for Foster, who knew next to nothing about soccer just a few short years ago. As a parade of coaches took to the podium to speak glowingly about Foster, there was one common theme: her drive and work ethic. As coach after coach reiterated the same sentiment it became increasingly clear how much her commitment stuck out to her various coaches over the years. 

“I wasn’t going to play soccer my freshman year and [coach Eddie Lawson] convinced me that it was something I really wanted to do,” she said. “Then coach (Carolyn) Harkness came in and believed in me and dedicated her time to helping make me better.”

The Troup girls team did not enjoy its best of seasons this year but Foster continued to fire on all cylinders. In fact, she didn’t even know college soccer was an achievable goal until a couple of months ago.

“This is very exciting because honestly I didn’t think this would ever happen,” Foster said. “It wasn’t until two or three months ago that I figured there was a chance. Before that, never in a million years did I think this was possible.”

Her meteoric rise caught the eye of local coaches and she will get a chance to play soccer in Troup County once again. It is not a chance she could pass up as she has truly fallen in love with the sport over the last few years. 

“I really started falling in love with my junior year when I started playing travel soccer as well,” Foster said. “That’s when I really fell in love with the sport.”

Foster is a passionate player that wears her heart on her sleeve when she takes the soccer pitch. Now that she is on the eve of departing Troup High, she and the coaches can truly share a laugh over the time she was shown a red card.

“I met with Allie and I didn’t really know her at the time and asked her what happened and she said ‘I did what I had to do’ and I asked what she had to do and she said ‘I hit her, I slugged her,’” Troup athletic director Andrew Calhoun said to a uproar of laughter from everybody in attendance. 

“I’m going to always remember my fight night,” Foster said laughing.

That sort of edge has helped her achieve this goal. It is something that cannot be taken away from her and is integral to her play on the pitch even if the coaches end up on the wrong side of her righteous anger.

As one of the first Troup girls soccer players to ever sign to play at the next level, Foster knows how much her path can influence the younger Tigers that might have the same dream to play soccer at the next level.

“I want to show them that no matter where you are in your freshman year, you’re going to grow throughout the next four years,” Foster said. “I don’t want them to think that they were ever not good enough.”

Troup fans will not have to travel far to see Foster suit up and take the soccer pitch once again. While her time in Troup blue and gold but her time in Skyhawk blue is just getting started.

“Year one I didn’t even know how to stop the ball correctly and now I know how to pass the ball, make crosses, move the ball forward,” Foster said.