{"id":16584,"date":"2021-12-02T14:56:18","date_gmt":"2021-12-02T20:56:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/?p=16584"},"modified":"2022-01-11T14:45:43","modified_gmt":"2022-01-11T20:45:43","slug":"roberts-named-player-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/2021\/12\/02\/roberts-named-player-of-the-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Roberts named Player of the Year"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Written by Sara McClaren <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Senior forward Emma Roberts was named Great American Conference (GAC) Player of the Year this November after leading the Lady Bisons soccer team with 17 goals and two assists during the 2021 season. Roberts played a total of five seasons, having been allowed an extra year of eligibility because of COVID-19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo have her come here to be able to play here was just a phenomenal blessing for us and our program,\u201d women\u2019s head soccer coach Gregory Harris said. \u201cEmma\u2019s probably one of the most dynamic players that I\u2019ve ever coached here in my 21 years here at Harding, I\u2019d say, on either side of the ball \u2014 men or women.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roberts was one of the team captains this year, and Harris said her level of experience helped her teach the younger players and helped her play wherever the team needed her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShe\u2019s a Division I player that we had here at Harding,\u201d Harris said. \u201cWe\u2019ve played Emma everywhere except for goalkeeper \u2026 She\u2019s really one of the more flexible players that we\u2019ve ever had here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harris said Roberts is leaving Harding having played more games than any other Harding women\u2019s soccer player and has been well decorated with honors and awards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen you look at Emma Roberts, you know, you\u2019re looking at a definition of Harding soccer,\u201d Harris said. \u201cEvery time she went out and played she gave it her all. She was blue collar in her work ethic every single time. The threat of her, I think \u2026 struck a lot of fear in people. They had to scheme to stop her.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roberts\u2019 work ethic wasn\u2019t just noticed by Harris. Student assistant Kelson Miller said Roberts brought a lot of speed, heart and grit to the team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShe gave it her all every game, and you don\u2019t doubt that,\u201d Miller said. \u201cI think that just speaks to her character off the field, as well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roberts said the most enjoyable parts about soccer were being creative outside the normal day-to-day routine and participating in healthy competition to improve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve gotten to play with a lot of different types of players and a lot of players who have excelled in \u2026 different skills,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cEvery player has their specific thing that they are the most talented at.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Miller said the whole team is always helping each other, and the other teammates doing their jobs allowed Roberts to be the GAC offensive player of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNot one person can do it on their own,\u201d Miller said. \u201cIf they could, it wouldn\u2019t really be a team sport. It\u2019s hard to get there by yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Lady Bisons placed fifth in the GAC conference this year, and several of the players dealt with injuries during the season. Despite the rough year, Harris said they never griped or complained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI will not knock the effort of the ladies on the team,\u201d Harris said. \u201cI\u2019m extremely proud of them and their effort and what they gave to this year. It wasn\u2019t an easy year.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Written by Sara McClaren Senior forward Emma Roberts was named Great American Conference (GAC) Player of the Year this November after leading the Lady Bisons soccer team with 17 goals…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15192,"featured_media":16585,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15192"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16584"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16584\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}