Player: Anna Evans

When we talked to Anna Evans recently, she had just finished her career as an All-American and 4-year starting player at Colorado School of Mines. While she is now most focused on wrapping up her degree in engineering at Mines (one of the country's top-ranked programs), she is also looking ahead to the opportunity to play professional soccer in Denmark or Sweden starting next January. Anna has showed off some of the skills that will come in handy in the pros in The18.com’s training videos (which you can find here). Below, she shares her thoughts on what skills any player needs to take their game to the next level, as well as playing soccer with her hero: famed U.S. Women's National Team player Kristine Lilly.

1. Where are you from? Arvada, Colorado

2. How old are you? 21

3. What team do you play with today? I just finished up at the Colorado School of Mines.

4. How did you start playing? When I was three I started playing. My brother and sister played, and I wanted to do everything they did. So I took it up and even after they quit, I kept playing. 

5. What’s your signature move? Probably the (Stanley) Matthews, where you touch it in or touch it out. My feet automatically do that without me thinking.

6. What’s one skill you think any player needs to cultivate? I would say being able to look up from the ball and actually see the entire field. Because if you're just living within a 10x10 grid, you're missing so much of the game. So, being able to control the ball while looking up and reading what the defenders are doing and what your team is doing is invaluable on the pitch. 

7. Who are your soccer heroes? Kristine Lilly. She's amazing and has the most caps in the history of the sport. I got the chance to meet her this past January. I actually played with her and she is the most humble, nice person. You wouldn't know she is a celebrity. And she is so incredibly good at soccer, despite being retired for a few years now. It's nice to see someone that famous and that good be such a great person as well.

8. Who’s your team in the World Cup 2014? It's Spain, but that's not a bandwagon choice! I picked them last time too. I would like to say the U.S., but they are in the group of death, so I'm going with Spain.

9. What’s your greatest moment on the pitch? Last season, I had one of my best games in a Mines uniform. We were playing under the lights at CSU Pueblo and I felt like nothing could go wrong. My touch was on, my passes, my vision, everything. Towards the end the game, I received the ball at the top corner of the 18 and chipped it up to myself and side volleyed the ball over the keeper into the far side, back corner of the net. It was one of my best goals and it was a great feeling when everything I had always worked for came together in that one shot.

10. What’s your worst moment on the pitch? It was last year and I was a junior in college. We made it to the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament, and were playing a team we should have been beating. But it was 0-0 and we went to PKs. I stepped up to take one and I missed it and we ended up losing. And that was the end of the season.

11. How did you get past your worst moment? I was kind of a mess. I think (what helped) was my teammates just lifting me up and realizing it wasn't the end of the world. When it comes down to it, soccer's just for fun, so the world doesn't end when soccer ends. My teammates and fans and family were really there for me and showed me off the field is more important than on the field. And I would also go out and work on it all the time so that it wouldn't happen again this year. We didn't go to PKs, but I know I wouldn't have missed again.

12. What’s the “ultimate soccer experience” you’d like to have? It would be playing in Europe in front of thousands of fans in a Championship game. It has to be under the lights because soccer under the lights is a million times better than under the sun. And, we would have a really close game through and through - and I would score with a bike at the end. That would be ideal.

13. What music do you listen to before a big game? That's hard. For our team we had a set CD and you couldn't listen to your own music. You're trying to be a team. Personally, I don't really listen to music before playing. I kind of get pumped up on my own without it.

14. What soccer talent would you most like to have? Being able to do a full speed rainbow over a defender. That would be awesome.

15. What do you most value in your teammates? Players who take the time to be responsible about their own game. So, they go out and train on their own and work as hard as they can, even though no one is watching. Doing everything they can for each other. 

16. What advice would you give to someone new to soccer? From the beginning, realize that it's all for fun. Go out and work your hardest and be your best, but realize that eventually your club career ends, and then your high school career ends, and then your college career ends and that could be it. So enjoy every single moment on and off the pitch. Soccer's half of it, but your teammates and all the fun times on airplanes and buses and all the rest of it - that's the big part you remember. Enjoy every second of it because it won't last forever. It ends pretty quickly.

17. What sports and activities do you enjoy off the pitch? Well, I'm in juggling club. I figured I should have some hand-eye coordination. Right now, I also do a ton of homework.

18. Where will we see you in 5 years? Hopefully, starting next January, I'll be in Denmark or Sweden playing soccer. So, 5 years from then, in Europe still playing soccer - or, potentially, coming back and playing in the U.S. if the league's still around and I'm good enough. I'll be playing soccer, I just don't know where in the world I'll be!