Rowan’s Darah Wagner dribbles around a Shendandoah opponent during a game this season. (Photo by Larry Levanti.)
It would be hard to imagine a local soccer world without Darah Wagner playing in it, but that’s nearly what we got over the past year when “D-Wags” began to ponder her existence on the pitch.
Fortunately for the Rowan University women’s soccer team and area fans in general, Wagner ultimately realized she truly loved the sport. The results speak for themselves, as the Profs freshman was named New Jersey Athletic Conference Co-Rookie of the Year after helping Rowan to the NJAC championship.
Wagner’s performance came after a long stretch of not playing competitively. During a standout career at Steinert, in which she made All-County and the Mercer 33 team, Wagner was recruited by Rowan and several other schools, including the nearby College of New Jersey.
She opted for Mercer County Community College, however, in order to save some money. When Profs’ coach Scott Leacott said he would still have a spot for her this season, Wagner decided not to play for the Vikings in order to save a year of eligibility for Rowan.
But a funny thing happened while she was trying to stay in shape. Wagner did a little soul searching about how important the sport still was to her.
“I would go to Robbinsville (High’s) track and run, do foot skills and stuff like that,” she said. “It was a little tough, and I thought ‘Maybe this isn’t for me anymore. Maybe I was supposed to stop soccer after high school.’ All I knew my whole life was soccer, and maybe this isn’t what I wanted.”
She admitted that there might have been a little burn out involved. Once she started watching Mercer last season, and saw former teammates Mani Kissling and Angelique Wysock, along with numerous other friends, playing for the Vikings the urge returned.
“I talked to my dad about it and he said, ‘You’re working hard, it’s going to pay off,’” Wagner said. “It was more of a personal thing. I had to figure out what I wanted. Then I realized what I wanted. I wanted to play. I missed competing, and seeing my friends at other schools made me want to play. I’m glad I came back.”
After her senior season in high school, Wagner played travel soccer in the spring. Once that ended in June 2014, she did not play competitively until April 2015 when she returned to play with the Hibernian Xcel that summer.
“I was nervous, I didn’t know how it would go,” Wagner said. “I kind of figured it out on my own and by the time Xcel came around, I was OK. I just had to get used to the quickness again. Luckily, I was able to do that.”
It was the same thing in college, as the speed of the game was the biggest adjustment Wagner needed to make. She did that quite nicely and became an immediate impact player. Heading into the NCAA Division III tournament, the center-midfielder was third on the Profs in scoring with four goals and two assists for 10 points.
Her performance goes beyond stats, as she is also great at keeping possession.
“Darah has been an integral part in our success,” Leacott said. “She is pretty dominant in the air and reads the game very well. She understands she needs to play quicker at times, but she is a strong presence in the middle of the field.”
Her dominance in the air is no surprise, as Wagner won pretty much every 50-50 head ball that came her way at Steinert. After starting at the beginning of the season, her play became limited by what she thinks was shin splints.
“She’s been slowed a little bit by that and hasn’t been 100 percent since mid-season but she’s still showing quality on the field,” Leacott said. “She really understands now, how we want to play and has given her all to the program. She has fit in right from the beginning.”
As the NCAAs approached, Wagner felt she was back to normal.
“Thank God it stopped, it was painful,” she said. “When I would run, I felt limited in what I could do. That lasted for a week and a half. But I feel a lot better now.”
She felt even better when she awoke on Nov. 3 to discover on Twitter that she was sharing the Rookie of the Year award with Stockton goalkeeper Nicole Pallante. Wagner was also a second-team All-Conference pick, along with former Steinert teammate Adrianna Boucher, who’s at Stockton.
“I was pretty surprised but really excited to get it, it’s a big honor to be chosen out of all the rookies in the NJAC,” Wagner said. “We set goals at the beginning of the season and one of our goals was to win the NJAC, and my personal goal was to be Rookie of the Year. I didn’t know if it would happen and I kind of forgot about it, but when it came out I was like ‘Oh, that’s cool.’”
Wagner added, however, that the team goal still had to be accomplished. Rowan took care of that a few days later with a 2-1 overtime win over TCNJ in the NJAC finals. Wagner had also been recruited by Lions coach Joe Russo.
“I know Mr. Russo pretty well and to beat TCNJ and have that game at home in front of everybody in overtime is really exciting,” Wagner said. “It couldn’t have gone any better, it was like a storybook thing.”
Speaking of books, Leacott seems to be taking a page out of Steinert’s. This year’s Rowan team features Wagner and fellow freshman Kylie Kieffer, who scored two goals in 13 games during the regular season.
“Kylie’s been playing really well,” Wagner said. “She plays on the outside so they rotate in and out a lot, but she’s been doing well.”
“We’ve had the luxury of getting some very good student athletes out of Steinert,” Leacott said. “Darah and Kylie are both exceptional student athletes and people. The one thing we always look for in our program is having girls who can fit into the program immediately, both athletically and socially, and they fit right in.”
Which is not surprising, considering the other former Spartans that Leacott has coached. Wagner admitted part of her reason for choosing Rowan was seeing the success that Steinert grads such as Christie Fink and Jess Babice had with the Profs. Then there were Christine Foy and Chelsea Pitonyak, who also made the journey from Klockner Road to Mullica Hill Road.
And according to Leacott, it’s pretty easy to spot a Spartan.
“We have always said that there is something in the water at Steinert,” he said. “They seem to produce the quirkiest girls ever, and Kylie and Darah are no exception. The girls on the team absolutely love these (Steinert) girls that we get.”
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