Avery Richardson is currently playing her fourth and final year of soccer at Eastern Illinois. The senior midfielder is trying to take it all in before it ends.
“It’s bittersweet. I mean, college sports ending, I think we keep looking at each other and just saying, how can we enjoy every moment, every 6 a.m. practice, every 7 p.m. practice, every late bus ride, every soreness that we feel,” said Richardson. “I’m just taking it all in and appreciating every moment we have.”
Richardson has been at Eastern through all four years of college. She started in 2021 as a true freshman. She did not play much though. She only played in five games and did not look the best score wise. Assistant coach at the time and current head coach Dirk Bennett was there right along with Richardson.
“I mean, I was there when she came in as part of the recruiting process, and I’ve been here with her ever since,” said Bennett. “When she got put in against Wisconsin and Cincinnati, two big opponents back to back, and she had that kind of deer in her headlights look on her face for a little bit there.”
After her sophomore year, her old coach, Jake Plant, left. In the spring of 2023, when Bennett officially got the job, he saw a change in Richardson. Bennett said that he saw her approach that time with a lot of focus, and that she came back after a winter of uncertainty better than ever.
“I think after we had a coaching change and it was up in the air, and we didn’t know whether it was going to be Dirk [Bennett] or someone else, I felt like, ‘What can I control?’” said Richardson. “I want to control the controllables, and if that’s my fitness, if that’s my soccer, if that’s my technique, I’m going to do all these things to prepare myself for the unknown, and I think that is what I did best.”
Even with not playing much in her first year and not starting much in her second year, she took the new challenges head on. One of those challenges was playing a different position than she was used to.
“Last year we had a real issue in terms of like, we didn’t have a lot of natural defenders coming into my first year as head coach, so we had to plug and play a little bit, and she had sort of vacated her standard midfield role and played center back for us,” Bennett said. “And it was something very much out of her comfort zone, but she stepped in there and did a much better job than I’m sure I would have in her shoes and helped us get to the bit of success we did find at the end of the year.”
Even with that challenge, she made the most of it. She even thought she would have to go back to that role this year, but they ended up finding some solid defense players to let Richardson fill into a new role: captain.
“We named two captains officially, and she’s one of them,” said Bennett. “She’s the senior of the two, and she earned it.”
Richardson has taken the leadership role head on.
She said that because of the adversity she faced with not playing and the coaching change, she has connected with most of the team and tries to stay positive as best she can.
Richardson led the team last year in minutes, and she helps give shape to the midfield.
Fellow senior defender Morgan Rinker said that the seniors all lead in their own ways. Richardson likes to be positive while some of the other seniors can make sure people are more accountable at times.
Rinker met Richardson on their first day in 2021. They met when they were just moving in, and their parents got them to talk to each other. With them knowing nobody else, they stuck together. They are now good friends and are finishing up their last year together.
“We were just saying how it’s Morgan [Rinker’s] last semester here, and it’s bittersweet. I’m excited for her next journey and my next journey, but I think just appreciating and trying to spend as much time together as we can, whether it’s in soccer or outside of soccer,” said Richardson. “And we are roommates, so we do get the luxury of being together, but just enjoying it all while we can, because life’s never going to be like it is now.”
Avery Richardson has made her impact known at Eastern. Now that it is her last year, she just wants her teammates to be confident in themselves as she was when she was younger.
“Believe in yourself and know that it’s just your first year or your second year,” Richardson said. “You can go from there.”
Patrick Schmitz can be reached at 581-2812 or at pfschmitz@eiu.edu.
