Leary aims to coach soccer after college

Playing on a Chartiers Valley boys soccer travel team for four years has helped Megan Leary to work harder and push herself to do her best. 

“If anything, I was expected to perform better and more consistently than the boys,” Leary said. 

Leary wanted a different environment than a Baldwin girls travel team provided, so she moved to the Chartiers Valley boys travel team with her cousins. 

“They had a boys team that was looking for people, so I joined and never looked back,” Leary said. 

Although playing on a boys team was a different experience than playing with girls, Leary had a great time playing with them.

“I was close with a lot of them. It was mainly just a fun thing for me to do with my friends, “ Leary said. 

Leary, a Baldwin senior, has played soccer since she was 5. She also has played on the Baldwin girls soccer team all four years of high school and with an all-girls Pittsburgh Football Club team for seven years. 

Soccer has been a big part of Leary’s life. 

“How has soccer not changed my life? I have gained so many friends and experiences from the sport,” Leary said. 

Soccer has taught Leary lessons in leadership, working with others, and how to give 100 percent every day. Title IX made it possible for female student athletes like Leary to be able to find a sport they are so passionate about, and she could not imagine life without it. 

“Soccer will always be a part of my life in some form. I want to coach when I get out of college, which will always keep soccer in my life,” Leary said.