 |  Meghan Toohey |
from M.GOBLUE.Com
By Brad Rudner
You could call Meghan Toohey a diamond in the rough.
Any descriptor or nickname will do. For all accounts, she's heard plenty of them, each one different than the last. But the fact that she's been given nicknames means she's doing something right.
It means that she's been noticed, even if she's the smallest person out on the soccer field.
Two falls ago, Toohey, a Philadelphia native who's now a sophomore midfielder on the University of Michigan women's soccer team, was a relative unknown in the recruiting world. Her club team, FC Delco, was littered with players that had national and regional team experience, but if you were to go back and find her on the player profile card, there would be nothing listed next to Toohey's name.
No awards. No accolades. No national teams. Just her name.
What makes her unique is her height, or lack thereof. She stands 5-foot-1, often dwarfed on the pitch by players double her size, especially in the midfield.
Don't feel bad if you don't see her at first. There were plenty of coaches along the way that made the mistake of writing her off before even seeing her play.
Big mistake.
"At first, I think a lot of people judged me, most of them negatively," Toohey said. "I heard them say my height was a disadvantage, that I was too small to play. I made sure I proved them wrong."
One person that did not share the sentiments of the majority was Michigan head coach Greg Ryan. Ryan remembers the first time he saw Toohey play. Despite not having some of the credentials that her teammates had, she showed enough promise to pique Ryan's interest.
"She played in three different positions and was great in all of them," Ryan said. "Her energy and work rate were beyond what I ever expected to see. Her ability to win balls, quickly transition to attack, and cover ground were just amazing."
Following the game, Ryan called her club coach, Leighton Walters, and the two conversed about Toohey, who wore No. 2 at the time.
"I'm looking at your team, and I think No. 2 is your best player, but she has no credentials," Ryan remembered saying.
Walters started laughing. "Man, she's my best player. By far."
From that first club game, Ryan knew he needed Toohey in a Michigan uniform. She visited Ann Arbor later that fall and committed on the visit. Ryan jokes that their recruiting class ranking was hurt because she didn't have those "credentials," but after a promising freshman campaign in which Toohey recorded eight points and earned All-Big Ten Freshman team honors, there's no doubting her ability to play Big Ten soccer.
"I've never seen another female player, even at the national level, who wins balls in the midfield like Meghan does," Ryan said. "I had other coaches coming up to me asking me, 'Greg, where did you find her?' They were at the same games. They saw what I saw."
As a midfielder, Toohey's job is to possess and control the ball, open up the passing lanes for the forwards, and shut down any counterattack from the opposing team. What she lacks in height, she makes up for with quickness, balance and grit.
You know, grit. Strength. Toughness. Physicality. All you have to do is watch one game to know that this is one midfielder you don't want to mess with.
"Before the game, I notice most of the other girls are a lot bigger than me, but I'm not afraid," she said. "I don't try to be overly physical. If you want it, you have to go after it. That's the way I play."
She's almost always the shortest player on the field, but that doesn't mean her presence isn't felt. She is all over the field in some phase of the game. There's never a ball she gives up on, and there's never a ball that seems out of reach.
Sometimes that means getting your jersey a little dirty.
"My dad taught me about mental toughness," Toohey said. "There's no reason to be afraid of anyone. He instilled that kind of 'never give up' attitude in me. I was never coached on how to deal with my height. It doesn't really matter. As you get older, you learn on the fly, and you'll know what your strengths and weaknesses are."
Michigan's midfield is full of dynamic and different players. There's Courtney Mercier, who stands 5-foot-9 and uses her size to control balls out of the air. There's dazzling freshman Christina Murillo, who stifles opposing defenses with her near-perfect footwork and ability to lead an attack. And then there's Toohey, who is so smack dab in the middle of every play you'd think there were two of her out there.
Toohey's teammates have taken notice. They feel it every day in practice.
"She's so fast," Mercier said. "The way she plays is unbelievable for her size. She's one of the most aggressive players on our team. She's a grinder. We'll see a lot of those in the Big Ten, and most of them are double her size, but she doesn't back down. That's what we need in our center midfield."
After scoring the team's second goal in Michigan's 6-0 victory over Duquesne on Aug. 26, Toohey was held in check in the team's next game, against DePaul. Mercier gave the noticeably frustrated sophomore some advice that she took to heart.
"I told her, 'Toohey, get used to it. You're the best player out there, and they're going to mark you for the entire game,'" Mercier recalled. "She's going to be on every opposing team's scouting report. It's only a matter of time before she's one of the best attacking center midfielders in the entire country. She's that good."
Fellow sophomore Tori McCombs met Toohey on a visit to campus two years ago. After playing one year alongside Toohey, McCombs is just glad she isn't opposing her.
"She's like a bowling ball," McCombs said, referring to Toohey's team-given nickname. "She's someone you'd hate playing against because she just works so hard to win. She's relentless."
Ryan echoed McCombs' sentiments, although used a different moniker to describe Toohey.
"When the whistle blows, she's like a tornado out there, giving it everything she's got," Ryan said. "She's one of those players I'd hate to take off the field."
"I know I'm small, but I use it to my advantage," Toohey added. "You have to be quick. Having balance definitely helps, too. I don't know why. I never studied it, but my height helps me to shield the ball against other players."
A bowling ball. A tornado. A diamond in the rough. Call her whatever you want. Just make sure you don't make the mistake of overlooking No. 7.
She'll make you pay if you do.
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