Bridie harding on Horns goaltending
Bridie Harding is a newcomer to the Horn’s women soccer squad this season and has made her impact felt early in her Pronghorns career. Harding has split starting goaltender duties with Erin Gill on the season, with both having played 4 games to date for the squad. Harding holds the team’s lead in goaltending statistics, with 10 goals allowed to date resulting in a 2.5 GAA and .706 save percentage. Bridie, a transplant from England, chatted with Lethbridge Sports about her role in the Horn’s series against UofA this past weekend. “Obviously the second day was a bit of a disappointment.” She says. “We had such a high on the Saturday! The biggest thing as we go forward is keeping Saturday’s tempo going. We got so hyped for the first day and it’s important we see both games but stay focused on what we did well the first game. We have a lot of promise and need to keep our energy high. It’s a very intense league.”
We asked Bridie what sort of things she and her teammates do to bring their energy level up going into a game. “Everyone’s different. Some of the girls listen to the music. I like to put my headphones in and listen to music and get into my head about what I expect from myself and what I can do for the team. I want to get the job done and make sure I fulfill my tasks.” We asked Bridie what’s playing in her headphones while she’s getting into game mode. “Fire by Kasabian – that song really hypes me up I love that song.”
One factor that made the weekend particularly challenging for the goaltenders (and even for us photojournalists on the sidelines) was the wind through both games. We asked Bridie how she managed through the gale. “It really does make it much tougher. With players you can start to predict who’ll do what. The wind is unpredictable. It’s really tough because I’m on edge all the time because even kicking against the wind gets ten times harder. There’s also a mental thing about if you don’t win the toss to get the wind early, it makes that much more challenging. It shouldn’t be something that stops us because we’re a talented team, but we let it get into our heads. We won the toss on the first day and lost it on the second day, and that was impactful. Lethbridge wind is something else.”
Bridie comes from a family of English footballers, and tells us that getting into the sport was just a natural evolution for her. “I have three older brother and an older sister who play.” She tells us. “They started me off playing at school and said I should join a team. I went to a team and it [my career] got kick started from there. My parents weren’t too happy about having to drive me to games every weekend but my brother is the one who started me playing. Soccer is a massive thing for England and English people. It was nice to place a sport everyone loves.” We asked Bridie a bit about her English heritage and how the fourth member of an English footballing family found her way to be playing in Southern Alberta.
Bridie initially laughs at the question and tells us that it’s one she gets asked all the time “Macky is the biggest part of my story.” She says. “He recruited me to go to Keanu college in Fort Mac. It was a great school with a great [soccer] program. He told us he got the job down here [Lethbridge] and I instantly thought like this sounds really cool. He talked to me about coming down too. It was an opportunity silly not to take up. UofL is a bigger school, the team is a better soccer standard. Overall it was better for my education. But that was all coach Macky.” After they both finished their time at Keanu during the 2020 COVID season, Bridie and Macky moved south and started this first season with the Horns.
We asked Bridie how the move has been now that she’s been in Lethbridge for a few months. “It’s been treating me well.” She tells us. “It’s bigger than Fort McMurray. I’ve been tried to get involved in as much as I can and see as much of Lethbridge as I can. The team is a really big help because it’s instantly people you can rely on if you need it. They’re easy friends and they’re all so lovely. It’s comforting knowing you’re going somewhere and not knowing someone that there’ll be people there to support you. Macky and his wife have also been a big help in the move, I stayed with them a couple days when I arrived and it was nice to settle in a little bit.”
We followed up by asking Bridie what parts of Lethbridge she’s had a chance to see so far. “The Corn maze!” She tells us. “That was pretty fun because I’d never been to one of those before. I did a day of work at the Hockey stadium with the Hurricanes at the Enmax and everyone there was really nice. Car rides and people pointing stuff out to me have also been pretty good. In the off-season I’ll get involved in more.”
Bridie is pursuing a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Sociology, and is in her third year of school and second year of degree after changing school. She is in her second year of eligibility as a member of USports. We asked Bridie what she is looking at beyond completing her degree in 2-3 years. “I have spoken to coach Macky about this. He thinks I should pursue and carry on playing soccer. But I have my sights set on going home and joining the army. I could see myself thriving there. I’ve been looking at a logistics leadership role. I’d go in as an officer – which the degree helps with – I’d look to a role at coordinating getting medical supplies as a Medical Support Officer. It’s a big control and leadership role getting all the equipment and supplies for the medical teams where they need to be. I have an interest in medicine and the army but don’t really want to be on the front lines. Just leading the groups feels like a good fit for me.”
Bridie acknowledges that she has had a lot of support in her international academic athletics career so far. “Academically my mom is a big pusher. She’s always wanted me to have something to fall back on if it [soccer] doesn’t go that way. Other than that, every coach I’ve had has helped me push myself through soccer. Every coach has helped push me in different ways. I’ve never had a coach like Macky but he finds new ways to help push me to be the best I can be.”
As we wrap up the interview, Bridie tells us that she is a big supporter of girls in sport programs back in England. The team also hosted a breast cancer awareness push this past weekend which is important to her. “I didn’t know about the Childhood Cancer charity until the Rugby game but that’s a great thing Karlee has done setting up her own non-profit. We as a team could do more to give back to the community and that would be great.”
Bridie and the Horns women’s squad are on the road this week for double header games against Macewan University up in Edmonton. We wish Bridie and the team the best of luck as they look for their second win this weekend.