With most of her family playing soccer for a big portion of their lives, senior, Courtney Koplyay has played and been around the game for as long as she can remember.

At the age of four, Koplyay discovered her passion and interest for the game. Starting at the recreational level, continuing to the intermediate level at the age of ten, she fell in love with soccer. Her father, Peter Koplyay, coached her throughout her rec. and intermediate years. Peter Koplyay was an All-American at Midwestern State University for soccer so he raised Courtney with a ball at her feet. Following intermediate, she began playing competitively for Arsenal Colorado Gold, the highest level team for her age group. At Arsenal, Koplyay played for five years, then decided to make the switch to play for Storm ENCL, based out of south Denver. “I made the switch because I decided that I wanted to play college soccer, so I needed a better team to help me accomplish that.” By playing for the Storm ECNL team, she got better exposure to college recruits because of the team’s skill level.

By having the opportunity to showcase her skills in front of more college recruits, Koplyay was able to gain interest from several different universities. Schools like TCU, Baylor, South Dakota, and Creighton were all impressed with her ability. However, Koplyay chose to attend TCU. She signed to TCU because it has been a dream school for her since she was little. “The campus is beautiful, I love the coaches, and it’s the perfect size/location for me. I’m really excited to play there next year.” Koplyay plans to study pre-med to become a doctor, following in the footsteps of her father who is a radiologist.

Leading the Fossil girls’ soccer team as team captain, Koplyay has been a top player in the girls’ soccer program since she first attended. Making Varsity her freshman year, she has played for Fossil for three of her four years of high school. “As a freshman, I got to play with a bunch of D1 bound seniors, and they really pushed me to become the player that I am today.” The team made it to the semi-finals of the state tournament her freshman year and went undefeated, winning conference her sophomore year. However, October 11 of her junior year, Koplyay tore her ACL which prevented her from playing high school soccer junior year. Not being able to play during her junior year only motivated Koplyay to have a quick recovery and play to the best ability for her senior year season. Holding the captain position for her senior year, she is looking forward to the state tournament. Being a captain is definitely something new. She has always considered herself a leader, but she has never actually been named a captain. “Being a senior and a team captain allows me to push everyone around me to work hard and become better players.” Koplyay says, “It’s nice being able to play on a team with all your friends from school. It’s also fun because you get to play with people from all grades, not just your own age. I am one of two seniors, so it’s kind of strange being very outnumbered by the underclassmen.”

Soccer is really important to Koplyay; it’s the biggest and most influential thing in her life. She has learned so much and have met some of her closest friends through soccer. Koplyay has been able to travel across the country in order to play, traveling to Texas, Washington, Arizona, Utah, California, Florida, South Dakota, etc. “Soccer has brought me such amazing opportunities that I wouldn’t have otherwise been able to do.” These opportunities include going to nationals with her club team for the past three years. Her family is very encouraging of Koplyay when it comes to her playing. Her parents are always super supportive, they drive her down to Denver for practices and go to all of her games. Koplyay’s brother and father continue to influence her through acting like alternate coaching, always helping her improve her game (even though they can be a bit critical sometimes). “I wouldn’t be who I am today if I hadn’t started playing soccer.”