There was more screaming than kicking for UNM women’s soccer player Roxie McFarland growing up.
McFarland, who is a Lobo midfielder, said she played on a boys’ team when she was younger. However, it isn’t her fondest childhood memory.
“I was around soccer from probably age 3 on,” she said. “I hated it at first.”
She became frustrated with the game because her teammates wouldn’t pass her the ball. It almost propelled her to give up on soccer altogether.
Her mom convinced her to give it one more year before giving up.
McFarland said a lot of her success is credited to her parents, especially her mother. Despite her ongoing health problems, McFarland said her parents is always in attendance to watch her daughter play.
“They rarely miss a game — whether it’s here or across country,” she said.
Now entering her final season at UNM, McFarland has become a starter for the Lobos — a nationally ranked team in 2010. She helped UNM capture its first regular season Mountain West Conference title in school history.
Head coach Kit Vela said that since McFarland joined, the team has never been more successful.
“From her freshman year to now, our team has had the highest ranking and has succeeded on paper, wins and losses, more than it ever has,” she said. “And she’s been an integral part of that.”
McFarland came to UNM as a forward and midfielder, two positions she played her entire soccer career, but at UNM was made a defender by her coaches.
“We were in need of defenders,” Vela said. “Because she was so competitive, we thought we could teach her our defensive mentality. She’s really thrived in that role.”
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McFarland learned the defensive position quickly enough that she started her first game for the Lobos late in her freshman season, and has been on starting defense since.
“She’s a fierce competitor,” Vela said. “She worked hard and became a starter by her sophomore season and continued to be a starter because of her hard work and never-quit attitude.”
Her competitive drive has earned her the role of team captain, and that same determination is present in her academics.
When McFarland isn’t on the soccer field, she’s studying for her MCAT to get into medical school. With a GPA of nearly 4.0, she is pursuing a double major in biology and psychology.
She said she isn’t yet sure what area of medicine she wants to go into. Whether it’s researching a cure for Alzheimer’s disease or working as an occupational therapist, she said wants to make a difference.
“I’d like to contribute somehow in my lifetime to actually make an impact and not just fill a role,” she said.
This summer, she is helping run a soccer camp in her hometown of Ogden, Utah for children and teenagers to enhance their skills to prepare them for college soccer.
Going into her final season at UNM, McFarland said she has high expectations for herself and her team coming off its first NCAA tournament appearance last year.
As a defender, she wants to use more of the offensive skills that made her the soccer player she is today, to help the team make it further into the tournament.
“It’s important for me not to just fill that role, but go beyond it,” she said. “And it’d be nice to rack up some assists this year, maybe a couple goals.”
