By EDWARD SEVERN, Staff Writer
HARLINGEN — Harlingen High Lady Cardinals soccer player Lauren Powell will continue her playing career at Southwestern University.
“Playing college soccer has been a dream of mine since I found out it was a thing,” she said. “To be able to think about playing in the fall makes me so excited.”
As one of the captains, Powell has helped lead her team to back-to-back District 32-6A championships.
“I have spoken to the coach a lot,” she said. “They followed me the last couple of seasons, I really like the school, and I have some friends that are going there and that are going to go there with me. The community they have there is awesome.”
Off the field, the left-footed defender will study occupational therapy with the goal of having a career in hippotherapy.
“Hippotherapy is where you use horses to help kids with disabilities,” Powell said.
Powell said she has ridden horses her whole life and volunteers at the Duck N’ Stables in San Benito. She hopes to get an internship at a stable a couple minutes away from the Southwestern University campus that offers hippotherapy.
Powell thanked all of her coaches, but especially her parents.
“They sacrificed so much to be able to travel every weekend,” she said. “I basically took every weekend away from them during the fall and spring. I am just grateful for them. Without them I would have been a ballerina or something … and with my dancing skills that would have been tragic.”
Powell still has a season to finish for Harlingen High. The Lady Cardinals play Friday in the first round of the playoffs.
“We are ready, and we hope to get farther than last year,” she said.