While Westmoreland County has produced an array of successful girls soccer teams, perhaps no team boasted the talent of the Norwin Knights in 2017. At one juncture, the team held the No. 1 ranking in the entire country, and culminated the season with a state title. Among the most accomplished players in the star-studded lineup was Emily Harrigan, who went on to play for Rutgers, and has recently continued her career at the University of Pittsburgh. Harrigan is the latest feature for the Westmoreland Alum Q&A.

A four-year starter for Norwin, Harrigan made an impact beginning in 2014, as she helped the Knights achieve a mark of 15-3-1 overall, including 11-0-1 in the section. However, the postseason brought a different outcome, as Norwin fell to Plum 1-0 in the first round of the WPIAL Class AAA bracket.

As a sophomore, Harrigan helped lead Norwin to a championship campaign. After the Knights went 12-0-0 in section action, they defeated Franklin Regional, Plum, and Seneca Valley to reach the WPIAL Class AAA Championship match. In that tilt, the Knights bested Upper Saint Clair 3-0 to win the first district crown since 1997. In the PIAA playoffs, Norwin knocked off Seneca Valley and Downingtown West, but lost in a rematch against USC in the semifinals, finishing with a record of 24-1-0.

In 2016, Norwin achieved the repeat, as the Knights went 21-1-1, including 9-0-1 in the section. In the WPIAL Class 4A playoffs, Norwin defeated Penn Hills, Upper Saint Clair, and Fox Chapel Area, setting the stage for a championship showdown against Canon-McMillan. In that clash, Norwin prevailed 3-1. In the state postseason, Norwin downed the Foxes, but fell in the rematch against the Big Macs in the quarterfinals.

As a senior in 2017, Harrigan helped Norwin go 21-2-1, including 8-1-1 in the section. In the WPIAL Class 4A playoffs, the Knights triumphed against Canon-McMillan, Kiski Area, and North Allegheny, but came up short against rival Penn-Trafford in the title game. However. the Knights rebounded in the state playoffs, defeating State College, North Allegheny, and Conestoga Valley to reach the PIAA Class 4A Championship. In that clash, Norwin edged Neshaminy 1-0 to claim the second state title in team history.

For her high school career, Harrigan scored 93 goals, establishing a new school record, while adding 61 assists. She was a four-time All-Section honoree, garnered All-WPIAL accolades three times, and was twice named All-State, including the 2016 PA Coaches Association Player of the Year. As a senior, Harrigan was recognized as a member of the United States Coaches Girls All-America Team, and played in the High School All-American Game.

Following her prolific tenure at Norwin, Harrigan matriculated to Rutgers University, joining the Scarlet Knights in 2018. After a redshirt season in which she played in just one game, in 2019 the forward played in 17 games, including 10 starts, scoring a goal and adding an assist. That season, Rutgers went 15-4-2 overall, including a mark of 8-2-1 in the Big Ten Conference. In the conference tournament, the Scarlet Knights defeated Indiana University in the quarterfinals, but fell to the University of Michigan in overtime of the semifinals. However, Rutgers still qualified for the NCAA Tournament, but fell to Central Connecticut State in the first round.

After the fall season was cancelled in 2020, the Big Ten shifted to a spring season this past year, during which Harrigan played in seven matches, but did not register a point. The Scarlet Knights went 9-3-4, including 6-2-3 in Big Ten play. In the conference tournament, Rutgers defeated Michigan State University and Ohio State University, but fell to the University of Wisconsin in the semifinals. Returning to the NCAA Tournament, the Scarlet Knights defeated Southeastern Louisiana in the first round, but lost to Clemson University via penalty kicks in the second round.

Following the campaign, Harrigan transferred to the University of Pittsburgh. Through a dozen games this season, Harrigan has amassed two goals and three assists. To this point, the Panthers are 8-4-0 overall, and 1-3-0 in the Atlantic Athletic Conference (ACC).

Emily took time from her schedule to field questions about her unique offseason schedule, the significance of her academic accomplishments, and what advice she’d give to herself as a high-school freshman.

Q: What are your best attributes on the field?

A: I feel that some of my best attributes on the field consists of me being enthusiastic and supportive of others. We have a very young team, and being one of the older players, I feel that one of my roles on this team is to be a positive role model and lead by example.

Q: What was the importance of playing the spring season after the fall campaign in 2020 was postponed?

A: We had our season taken away from us unexpectedly. We had two ways to look at it: We could either feel sorry for ourselves, or we could take the fall season to get better and prepare ourselves for the spring. The spring season was extremely important to me because I dealt with some minor injuries throughout fall and I was finally healthy in the spring. We were all ready to showcase our hard work that we put in.

Q: How did your offseason plan change with a shorter layoff between seasons?

A: Typically in the offseason, I tend to focus more on strength training as opposed to conditioning. Losing muscle mass is inevitable during the season due to the amount of running we do each day, so I try to gain some of it back in the offseason. Due to the shorter layoff and going straight into another season, I incorporated a little bit of everything. My season with Rutgers ended in May, and I went right into training with Pitt at the end of June. I incorporated speed training, strength training, conditioning, and technical/tactical training into my workout regimen.

Q: Pitt had a very successful performance in non-conference play this fall. What were the biggest factors in that?

A: From talking to some of the other veterans in the program, it seems that this season we have a lot of depth in comparison to previous years. With a large roster, we have a lot of talent. When someone gets fatigued on the field, we pass the baton and the next person steps on and is able to keep the high level. Even though the roster is on the larger side, our team is very tight-knit and have strong relationships both on and off the field, which helped contribute to our non-conference success.

Q: What team and individual goals did you set for this campaign?

A: Our team set short-term goals as well as long-term goals at the beginning of the season. We decided that we were going to take it one game at a time, which would help us achieve our bigger goals. As for myself, I wanted to come into this program and use my experience of being at a top 25 program for three years and playing in multiple NCAA tournaments to be a mentor to some of the younger players at Pitt. I wanted to take on a leadership role at Pitt as one of the older players on the team.

Q: What led to your decision to transfer to Pitt?

A: I dealt with a great deal of adversity at Rutgers over the course of the past three years. My student-athlete experience was one that I never would have expected for myself. My freshman year, I tore my hamstring in my first collegiate game after never dealing with injuries my entire career. I was out for six months getting injections and doing constant rehab, leading to taking a medical redshirt. My sophomore year, I was able to play during non-conference, then tweaked my hamstring once again. I was able to return in time for postseason play. My junior year, I contracted COVID-19, dealt with hamstring issues once again, and broke my arm at the end of the fall. As you can imagine, this was a lot for me mentally being five hours away from home, especially after coming off of such a high my senior year of high school, winning states and having a very successful career. Transferring from Rutgers was one of the toughest decisions I had to make. I met some incredible people and had some of the best coaching staff in the country by my side every step of the way. I decided to transfer because I wanted to give myself a clean slate. I wanted to forget about the injuries and start over. I thought to myself, “What better way to start over than in my hometown?”

Q: There are several other Norwin players currently on the Panthers. What is your relationship with them?

A: The transition from Rutgers to Pitt was much smoother than expected, and I have to give a lot of the credit to the girls I played with in high school. These girls went above and beyond to help me adjust to the program. I have always had a very close relationship with all three Norwin girls even while I was at Rutgers, so it is nice to be able to continue to build on these relationships as teammates again.

Q: What is your major, and ideal future profession?

A: Currently, I am a health services major here at Pitt. While completing the courses for the major, I have also been taking all of the prerequisite courses necessary to pursue a physician assistant program post-graduation.

Q: You were twice honored as Academic All-Big Ten. What did that mean to you?

A: I have always taken a lot of pride in my academics. I feel that sometimes people are not always aware of how difficult it is for student-athletes to balance their academics with their athletics. Being honored as Academic-All Big Ten has given me motivation to continue to take care of my academics while competing at a Division I program.

Q: You were part of an incredibly successful program at Norwin. What were the biggest components?

A: The biggest component of any successful program is having a tight-knit team both on and off the field. The year we won states, our senior group was a group of girls that grew up playing together since a very young age. I feel that this was definitely a big component to our success in the 2017 season.

Q: What was your fondest high school memory?

A: My fondest high school memory had to be winning states. This was a goal that our senior class had set since freshman year.

Q: Who is your celebrity dream date?

A: Thomas Rhett

Q: What is your hidden talent or a little-known fact about you?

A: My hidden talent is that I can do a backflip. I used to be a competitive cheerleader and can still do most of my tumbling.

Q: What advice would you give yourself as a high school freshman?

A: I would tell myself to make the most out of the hand you are dealt. Life isn’t always rainbows and butterflies, but it’s all about what you make of the situation you’re in.