After a standout career at Emporia High School, senior goalkeeper, Yadira Rivera, decided it might be time to hang up the soccer cleats and gloves.

“For a second I wasn’t going to play at all in college just because nothing really worked out the way I wanted it to, so I was just going to focus on school,” Rivera said.

Rivera, who was an MIAA Honorable Mention selection in 2015, First-Team in 2014, and Second-Team in 2013, enters her senior season with 21 total career shutouts. Last season, despite missing 3 games, Rivera was still third in the MIAA in total saves.

 “She is definitely the backbone of our team,” sophomore forward, Jacki Martinek said. “Everyone looks up to her and seeing her play makes everyone else on the team want to step up and contribute as much as she does.”

After a good performance against a reputable high school team her senior year, Emporia State came knocking.

  “I was supposed to sign with Butler originally and that fell through,” Rivera said. “I really wanted to stay in Emporia, but Coach Sailer already had a goalie so it didn’t really work out. I think he officiated one of my games actually, a Washburn game that was just straight shots. I got a call from him that night and he offered me a scholarship. It just all worked out.”

Emporia State head soccer coach Bryan Sailer is grateful for that decision.

“She changed the program altogether. She’s in her senior season but even as a freshman, she took the league by storm,” Sailer said. “I think our team’s identity was kind of formed because of Yadira and what she can do. We got better around her, and she was the starting point of all of that.”

Rivera began her soccer career at a young age. She credits her brothers for sparking her love for the game and her choice of position.

“When I was like 7 or 8, my brothers, they used to play soccer, of course, they always needed a goalie,” said Rivera. “They would be like ‘hey, we don’t want you to play with us, but can you step in goal?’”

While Rivera does not have to cover as much ground up and down the field as her teammates do, much of the most important action of the game happens in her territory.

“To someone who doesn’t really understand soccer or they watch soccer for the first time, they may be like ‘oh, well that player’s just standing a lot of the time’. It’s not like that because the times that you do get a lot of action are when it’s really important,” Rivera said. “You’re the one blocking the other team from scoring.”

As an Emporia native, Rivera is no stranger to the Emporia High School field where Emporia State plays many of their home games. Getting the opportunity to represent her hometown by playing the game of soccer is something Rivera had always dreamed of.

“It definitely helps being in town and being homegrown. There’s a lot of people that come and support me that I’ve known my whole life,” Rivera said. “That definitely motivates me to work harder and do it for them and all of the people that have stuck with me throughout the whole history I’ve had playing soccer.”