Women’s soccer Division III number one scorer: Elisabeth Morehouse

Zoe Deno
Staff Writer

With 23 goals scored this season, Elisabeth Morehouse is ranked number one in the nation.

“My high school team always said that life is just a game of inches,” said Morehouse. “If you are a half inch too late or too early, it doesn’t quite work. I guess that’s the same with life, you have to let the timing work out perfectly and you have to keep trying up to the very end.”

Morehouse began playing recreationally when she was five years old and graduated into the travel team when she was 10. She never had the opportunity to play modified in a traditional school because she was homeschooled, so she turned to Albany’s indoor Turf Zone Arena.

“A lot of soccer players play there on the off-season,” Morehouse said.

She continued, “I didn’t always [play] indoors; I was still timid. I hit a point when I didn’t care who was watching when I messed up.”

In high school, Morehouse joined Coxsackie Athen’s team and played varsity. She started off as an outside midfielder until her junior year, when she became a striker.

“[Soccer] has definitely shaped me a lot because it has always been consistent. If I was going through something, I would still be playing soccer; if I was doing well, I would still be playing soccer.”

Morehouse said that there were two times she came very close to quitting the entire game of soccer.

The first time was during her sophomore year of high school when she was playing outside midfielder. “It was mid-season, and I went to my coach, and I was like, ‘I hate this, I don’t want to be doing this anymore,” she said.

“My lowest point was definitely just feeling so worn… I hated it; I hated the position, I felt like I didn’t really accomplish much and I wasn’t really that good, but I guess I was just playing the wrong spot.”

Morehouse credits her high school coach for convincing her not to quit. “She called me into her office, and she said to me, ‘We need to figure out what’s going on because you’re full of passion, motivation and hard work, and I see so much potential. We just need to get you to love what you love again.’ So she talked me through it.”

“Even if it was something off the field, she would call me into her office and get me through whatever I was going through, which is really important in soccer because it is such a mental game that you need to be so focused,” said Morehouse.

The second time Morehouse almost stopped playing soccer was for college, but she reached out to Hudson Valley’s women’s soccer coach, Jay Pokines.

“I knew some of the girls who played, and I told them I was definitely going to be playing. Then I thought I really wanted to focus on school, and I really wanted to change things up,” she said.

Morehouse said pre-season begins as early in August, which was another factor in the decision she almost made.

“I felt like I’ve never had a real summer, and I’ve never really had a real fall. I’ve always had practices and games, and I wasn’t going to play soccer in college, but they convinced me. I didn’t want to.”

With her goal count as high as it is, Morehouse is a major contributor to the team.

“When we score, it is like a big puzzle; everyone has a piece that they do,” Morehouse said. “The defenders and the midfielders don’t get credit for what they do, but I don’t get the ball unless they give it to me. I’m just the last piece of the puzzle.”