Self-motivation was goalie’s saving grace

Barry Faulkner

Sometime during a distinguished four-year women’s soccer career at

the University of Iowa, the scoreboard became an abstraction to

Britta Vogele.

As the dream of a corner office can distract those in the

mailroom, or the spoils of early retirement clouds the concentration

of fresh-faced undergraduates just now primping for real-world job

interviews, the all-or-nothing preoccupation with winning wrestled

with a more finite focus for this record-setting Hawkeye.

But when team hardships -- and losses -- mounted, the former

Corona del Mar High star’s emphasis ratcheted down around the

quintessential element of competition. It was this inner drive, the

one that had moved her since she began playing youth soccer at age 5,

that kept driving her above her team’s lot at the bottom of the Big

Ten Conference standings.

“It has been a rollercoaster, but I wouldn’t have had it any other

way,” Vogele said by phone last week from Iowa City, just days after

possibly capping a distinguished 18 years in a sport that might still

provide her a professional future.

“I’m going to take some time off and see how I feel about playing

[professionally, either in Europe, or with the rumored return of a

women’s pro league in 2006],” Vogele said. “For now, it seems strange

not to be playing, because I’ve been doing it so long. But I’m happy

that [college soccer is] over. I accomplished a lot.”

A former All-CIF Southern Section performer who was first-team

all-league four times at CdM, Vogele started all but four games in

four seasons at Iowa.

Her 489 career saves rank No. 1 in Big Ten annals and she holds

five school records, including career wins (22) and shutouts (13).

She was All-Big Ten as a sophomore and led the conference in saves

each of her first three years.

“She set a new standard,” Iowa Coach Carla Baker said. “She’s a

very solid goalkeeper who just didn’t have the personnel around her.

But she’s the kind of player who could help a team win a national

championship.”

Iowa won two games this season, after posting just four victories

in 2003. The Hawkeyes were 0-17-3 in the Big Ten during that stretch.

But Baker believes Vogele, 22, never relented in the face of

diminishing returns.

“She’s someone I’m going to miss as much as a person as for her

amazing abilities on the playing field,” Baker said. “She’s an

incredible leader who never wavered in her work ethic or being a team

player.”

A team captain the last two seasons, Vogele was recently named the

program’s representative for the conference’s Outstanding

Sportsmanship Award program.

“She knew that the season wasn’t only about wins and losses, but

about how she could improve as a player and impart knowledge to our

younger players,” Baker said. “She was all about sacrificing for the

good of the team.”

Though she lists a 11-7-1 season in 2002 among her highlights, she

regrets nothing of her choice to play and study at Iowa.

“I never would have thought I would have loved it here as much as

I do,” she said. “It has been exciting to play in the Big Ten and

against some of the greatest teams in the nation.”

Vogele said the presence of her twin sister, Margit, also a senior

soccer player at Iowa, added greatly to her positive experience.

Britta Vogele, on schedule to graduate in May with a history

degree, said she plans to live in Chicago after graduation. She would

eventually like to teach and, perhaps, coach.