STUDENT LIFE I INTERNATIONAL I SOCIAL CLUBS I ACADEMICS I PEOPLE I LEADERSHIP I ATHLETICS I ORGANIZATIONS Senior Bethany Sutherland finished her collegiate career as all-time leading scorer for Harding. "P assionate, dedicated, relentless:" those were the words Head Women's Soccer Coach Greg Harris used to describe senior midfielder Bethany Sutherland. Sutherlandplayed for Harding women's soccer all four of her years at Harding and finished her career as one of the most accomplished soccer player in Harding's history. Growing up in Southern California,Sutherlandcame from an athletic family and recognized her love for the sport at a young age. By the end of her junior year of high school, Sutherlandknew shewanted to play soccer at the collegiate level and decided to follow her older siblings to Harding. Harris recognized during Sutherland's freshman year how talented ofa player she was and how well she would fit with the team. "She was very attack-minded for somebodyin her position," Harris said. "Bethany is not your prototypical central [midfielder] in that she was almost forward-like in her mentality, so we saw that. She, for us at that time, was the perfect storm for what we had. Shewas surrounded by a lot of talent that was able to score goals, so she was able to exploit people from her position. Shewas just very fluid." During Sutherland's freshman year, she set a school and conference record of 23 goals in a single seasonand was named to the Division II Conference Commissioners AssociationWomen's Soccer All-American first team. Sucherlandattributed this successto her teammates and trainers. "All of my coaches and trainers that I had while growing up always put out the extra effort while working with me to help get me better," Sutherlandsaid."My teammates pushed me at practice. I don't think much of the awards. I just love playing soccer. I've never really cared about the accolades. I just play my game and score." As the years continued, Sucherlandmatured and improved as a player, but teams also began strategically planning defenses against her, which led to a decrease in her positive statistics. Even though her play seemed to diminish statistically, Harris said she was just as important to the team and just as talented of a player as shewas her freshman year. "It's easy to look at her and look at the downfall of statsover the last two years, but people don't understand that we asked a lot of Beth in several different ways her last two seasons," Harri said. "It is amazing how much she contributed all around the board. She is one of the more versatile players that we have ever had from a mindset standpoint." Throughout her collegiate career, Sutherlandgrew to be one of the leaders on the team. Shewas a naturally quiet person, so she chose to lead by example. Harris said Sucherlandwas always the first to finish sprintsand was great at letting her teammates know what to improve and what was expected of them. During games, Sutherlandnever lost focus or energy. Her teammate junior forward Amelia Grizzell was able to play alongside Sutherland for three years and believed she was a great player. "She is a disciplined and very knowledgeable player," Grizzell said. "She is the kind of player that knows the game like the back of her hand and practices certain things until she gets them perfect. It has been awesome to play with her. Shehas challenged me to be a better player and to play at a higher level." Sutherlandleft an impressive record at Harding and finished at the top of many statistical categories, scoring 62 goals and a total of 143 points during her athletic career at Harding. story by Jacob Broyles & Morgan Taylor Senior midfielder Bethany Sutherland looks downfield on Dec. 4, 2018, at the Bill Stephens Track and Soccer Complex. Sutherland finished her career with the most points, points per game, goals, goals per game and game-winning goals in Harding women'ssoccer history. I photo by Sterling McMichael SCOREBOARD Emporia StateUniversity I 1-3 L MissouriWestern State University I l-2 L NortheasternState University I 2-3 L Oklahoma Baptist University I 1-2 L Missouri Southern State I 1-2 L Oklahoma Baptist University I 3-2 W NorchwesternOklahoma State University I 3-0 W SouchwesternOklahoma State University I 0-3 L Ouachita Baptist University I 6-1 W East Central University I 3-2 W Southern NazareneUniversity I 3-1 W Oklahoma Baptist University I 0-2 L Southwesterm Oklahoma State University I 2-4 L NorthwesternOklahoma State University I 2-0 W Ouachita Baptist University I 0-1 L East Central University I 4-0 W 236
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