When she was four or five years old, senior goalie Brianna Rawlings began playing soccer for fun and the game didn’t have any meaning to her yet.
As she got older and continued to develop, she became a goalie, a position that was undesired by the other middle school players. Rawlings said she was thrown into this position and her dad, who had been coaching her up to this point, specifically became a goalie coach.
In Rawlings’ area of Las Vegas, there weren’t many high school soccer options, making club teams the only way to play after middle school. This worked out well for her, as one of her teams ended up making it very far in their tournaments multiple years in a row.
During high school, Taylor’s women’s soccer head coach Scott Stan made a connection with her via email and traveled to Las Vegas to meet her during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
He felt God telling him that Rawlings would be his next goalie. At the time, she didn’t have a relationship with Jesus, but Stan saw past that, even though the university doesn’t typically recruit those without faith in Christ.
He continued the recruiting process, which is when Rawlings’ faith journey began. She began attending church and she learned more about Jesus.
She said her freshman year was when her faith blossomed.
“God cares about everything, including sports and it’s a way to reach some people that wouldn’t be reached otherwise,” Stan said.
During her junior year, Rawlings took her first visit to Taylor and she committed to the soccer team the same day as the visit.
She earned five starts in the net during her freshman year, six her sophomore year and became a team captain her junior year. In that third year, she was the starting goalie for all 17 games, averaging four saves per game, 73 total over the year. She also had an .826 save percentage against Crossroads League teams.
Stan said he knew Rawlings would be ready for the starting spot her sophomore year if anything happened to their starting goalie at the time, Hannah Brackenbury. He guessed right.
Rawlings said her greatest joy is playing first for the Lord and then with her teammates.
“I obviously get joy from playing the sport as well, just like getting to play my position well and playing it for the reason we play, especially here at Taylor, playing to glorify God,” Rawlings said.
Her confidence has grown, especially during her sophomore and junior years. Rawlings credits her analytics professor Doug Read, who she matched really well with because of his down-to-earth personality. She also credited Stan for this growth in confidence because of how patient he was with her during her first two years at Taylor.
She highlighted Read’s down-to-earth personality and Stan’s patience with her as two big factors that led to this increase in confidence.
Throughout her soccer career, she had coaches who were aggressive and would yell at her. Stan has been different. Rawlings said he cares who his players are as people, not just as athletes.
Stan has seen her faith take off, from not having a relationship to her leading both teams in prayer after a game and leading faith-based discussions with her teammates.
While she’s made many memories on the field, two of them stand out to her.
The first is the team’s win over the Marian Knights last season, who were ranked No. 10 in the NAIA. The Trojans defeated the Knights 1-0 with Rawlings making eight saves in the game. It was the highest-ranked win in Taylor history.
Her second highlight is from her sophomore year when the Trojans traveled to Oregon for a preseason trip before conference games started. Being out west made her feel like she was at home and away from their everyday soccer field.
Once she leaves the field for the last time, Rawlings is looking to use her computer science and digital media degree to find a job relating to her degree.
She said the Taylor upperclassmen have shaped her and they’re the ones who really make the university what it is.
“Taylor’s just grown me so much more in my faith than I think I could have ever imagined, so I think leaving here, that’s the biggest takeaway,” Rawlings said.
