Fresno State Athletics
Houchen: Getting It All Back
10/10/1999 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
Oct. 10, 1999
Amber Houchen has always been an athlete. She talks of times when as a small child, she could simply run away from the rest of the children on the playground.
?I was always the fastest growing up,? Houchen said. ?When I was playing in all those sports, I was so much quicker than the others, so I always started [on my athletic teams].?
With a solid athletic foundation set in youth leagues, Houchen made the transition to the high school level very easily earning four letters in soccer, two in softball and one in cross country at Clovis High School. By excelling at Clovis HS, a school considered to be one of the top athletic programs in the region, she was named to four consecutive Tri-River Athletic Conference first teams including being recognized as a Nike All-American. Houchen just knew she could take it to another level.
?I was recruited by Fresno State and Long Beach State,? the hometown product said. ?[Fresno State] is better and closer to home, so it was an easy decision.?
But the transition from high school athletics to the college level was not as easily accomplished for this soccer player. During the summer before her first season as a Bulldog, the usually lightening-quick athlete pulled up lame rupturing her anterior cruciate ligament.
?It was very tough sitting out,? Houchen said. ?I didn?t enjoy it all.?
But one year later than expected, Houchen finally met her recruiting classmates on the field of play. Still hampered from the injury suffered more than 15 months ago, the hometown product is working to rediscover her game when defenders simply could not catch her.
Seeing action in seven games this fall, Houchen has seized the opportunities that lay before her. The versatile and heady player currently provides a speedy replacement for the outside midfielders and with each step on the field she is one step closer to getting back to where she once was.
?When she fully recovers from her ACL injury she will have a shot and the speed that will match her great enthusiasm and positive nature on the field.,? women?s soccer head coach Peter Reynaud said. ?I fully expect her to be a factor on the field for us in the coming years.?
