Last season, sophomore midfielder Kate Ripple spent her time and effort as a forward for the top-5 Texas A&M Aggies soccer team. But the Parkview Baptist graduate decided to bring her talent and ability back to Baton Rouge and finish her college career as a Tiger.
“As a coach, I was really disappointed that she decided not to come here,” said LSU coach George Fotopoulos. “But everything happens for a reason.”
A combination of factors helped Ripple make the decision to transfer to LSU she said.
“I missed home a lot, but also the team chemistry wasn’t there [at Texas A&M],” Ripple said. “I didn’t feel like it was where I needed to be. I’ve always loved LSU so I just decided I wanted to come back home.”
Ripple also wanted to be a Mass Communication major, an area of study that is not offered at Texas A&M.
No other player on the LSU soccer team has the experience that Ripple gained in her one season as an Aggie. She regularly faced off against top programs as a player in the Big XII and made it to the Elite Eight in last year’s NCAA tournament.
“You can’t duplicate that sort of experience,” said freshman defender Ashleigh Gunning.
Senior midfielder Stephanie Keating said Ripple strongly wants for the rest of the LSU team to gain the experience that she has.
“She knows what it is like to go to the next level and wants to share that with us,” Keating said. “To her it would mean more if she would experience that with us.”
Ripple’s former Parkview teammate, freshman defender Stephanie Ford, said Ripple significantly helps the team beyond the playing and practice field. Ripple aids Fotopoulos by reinforcing the high confidence level he attempts to instill in the team.
“She just has another viewpoint,” Ford said.
Gunning grew up playing against Ripple in different Baton Rouge soccer competitions and believes the year Ripple spent at A&M helped her play improve significantly and will aid LSU.
“I think she developed a lot as a player at A&M and I’m glad she brought that back here,” Gunning said.
Although it was not required of her, Ripple enrolled in summer school and worked with other team members to be in good shape. Her work in preseason and play in the first few weeks of the season has earned Ripple a starting spot in the LSU lineup.
“Even when you have that kind of stature, you still have to come and play,” Fotopoulos said. “Kate has done that well this year. She came in and made an immediate impact.”
At Texas A&M Ripple played at the forward position, a spot which gave her many opportunities to score goals. Fotopoulos said he felt she would best benefit the team at an outside midfielder position, one that requires much running and helping create goal scoring opportunities for other players.
“She’s a real team player and not worried about being a superstar or anything,” said sophomore forward Christine Haman. “She’s really versatile and can play anywhere. She’s willing to try new things to help out the team.”
Senior midfielder Jen deHay shares time with Ripple at the right wing position.
“Although her and I are in direct competition for the same position, she doesn’t just force me to compete,” deHay said. “She encourages me. She really has great character.”
Ripple is a third generation athlete in her family. Her grandfather played baseball for the Milwaukee Braves. Her mother was member of the U.S. triathlon team and her dad played linebacker for LSU in the 1970s. Both of her siblings followed the trend as well. Ripple’s sister is on the U.S. swim team while her brother plays football for Nicholls State.
She said her dad had her throwing a football since she was four years old, but never felt obligated by her parents to play sports.
“Athletics has been a very big part of our family,” Ripple said. “What kept us in it was that my mom and dad never forced it on us and always let us choose what we wanted to do.”
Gunning said it was obvious to those who grew up around Ripple that she would become a great athlete.
“Kate was brought up as an athlete,” Gunning said. “To me it was sort of obvious that she would be some sort of athlete. She’s definitely very gifted athletically.”
Growing up in an athletically competitive team helped form Ripple’s work ethic, uplifting personality and competitive character according to Ford.
“She’s the type of person you want to hang out with because she’s always positive and lifting people up,” Ford said. “She doesn’t like to be second. She works her butt off to be at the top and she wants every one of us to be up there with her.”