Terryn Hardy

Staff Writer

Position: Goalkeeper

Year: Senior

Hometown: Anaheim, California, Mater Dei High School

Soccer has been a mainstay in Shawna Hennings’ life since the age of seven.

By the age of 12, the current starting goalkeeper for Idaho State’s women’s soccer team started playing for the American Youth Soccer Organization, where she first started playing goalkeeper, which was an easy switch from her previous position on defense.

In high school, Hennings attended the powerhouse Mater Dei High School, a private school that has been known to traditionally compete for state titles in Santa Ana outside Los Angeles. While at Mater Dei, Hennings played on the freshmen team for one season before advancing up to junior varsity where she was a team captain her sophomore year. By the time she was a junior, she was on the varsity squad.

Hennings said that she chose to come to Idaho State for the sense of community that can be felt in Pocatello, which is what she wanted in a school. She also liked the small class sizes offered at Idaho State.

As a member of National Honors Society and the California Scholarship Federation in high school, Hennings held a 4.2 GPA and continued her academic success at Idaho State by joining the university’s honors program.

Another big reason why Hennings chose Idaho State was the coaches, especially head coach Allison Gibson. The coaches also saw something in Hennings, as they gave her an offer to play for Idaho State just a couple of weeks after a camp Hennings attended. 

In her first collegiate season, Hennings only played 17 minutes over the course of the season, but in 2015, Hennings began to see her playing time increase as she appeared in ten games, starting seven of them. By her junior year, Hennings was the number one goalkeeper.

“I was just thrown in to being a starter,” Hennings said. “It took a lot to figure out what my spot on the field and on the team was.” 

Hennings took on the challenge and met it with a desire to learn and used her freshmen year to transition from high school and club soccer into playing at the collegiate level. 

By the time she was a junior, with an entire season as a starter under her belt, Hennings felt more comfortable with her roles as leader and anchor on the team.

After graduation, Hennings plans on becoming a teacher and is also considering attending graduate school.

“I want to get as much education as I can so that I can pass it on to future generations,” she said.

As far as soccer goes, Hennings would love to keep playing after she leaves Idaho State, but she knows that education comes first.

“There has to be something after soccer,” Hennings said “If the opportunity comes up, I’ll jump at it, but I also want to continue my education.”

Hennings said she would love to become a certified coach as well and pass on the individual position-based coaching that she received in her soccer career. She said that she would like to give more specific coaching towards kids that are thrown into the goalkeeper position like she was.

Idaho State’s next home game is September 29 against Montana fresh off a four-game road trip.