Most high school athletes who go on to play in college have very successful high school careers.

UW soccer player Marla Froelich is certainly no exception. The three-time first team all-state performer and three-time team most valuable player dominated high school play in her home state of Iowa.

But it was not her talents that got her where she is now. It was the extra intangibles she brings to the field that brought her to Madison.

“I’m not really one of the strongest technical players out there, but I think I bring a lot of personality and heart to the team,” Froelich said.

The attitude and determination she has displayed have helped her become the player she is now.

“Well my nickname in high school was ‘Animal’ because I was just kind of crazy on the field,” Froelich said.

While her attitude and determination helped bring her to town, Froelich knew Madison was the place she wanted to be from a young age. One might expect that growing up in Iowa City, Froelich would be an Iowa fan, but that was not the case.

“My dad played football here, and he [brought] me up a Badger fan,” Froelich said.

But things were not as easy as just coming to Madison and joining the team. Froelich, a senior, came in as a walk-on and has worked up to a captain.

Her dedication and hard work has made her an important player for head coach Dean Duerst.

“She is just one of those people that you know she is completely upfront, honest — somebody you can rely on,” Duerst said.

She’s one of those players coaches dream of — like an extension of the coach on the field, always helping others and setting the tone for the team.

“She will get emotional when it is the right time to, and she is soft, yet so incredibly strong, and a role model for the younger players,” Duerst said. “They don’t come around like that so often. She is ready and willing to play whatever minutes she is given, and [the effort] is always the same, completely 100 percent.”

Not only is Marla always ready to help other players, but she has also improved greatly over the years by working diligently on her game.

“She has been very consistent in her play,” Duerst said. “She has grown as a technical player because that was an area that she knew she needed to get better at. The only way to do that is you have to spend time, so she committed herself in the off-season. She has been battling [a] nagging hip injury and just plays through pain. All of those little things combined make her a tremendous player of character for our program.”

Marla is willing to do whatever the team needs her to do both on and off the field.

“She understands what is required,” Duerst said. “It really takes a special person to understand that she may get 20 minutes, 15 minutes, 30 minutes per game, you never really know. She is going to do what she can to help the team. That sends a message to all the players [about] how important every single player is, no matter what role you are given on any given day.”

In this her senior year, Marla is hoping for her most successful season yet. The team was well on its way to its best season yet, opening the season with six straight victories, before hitting a bump with a 0-3-1 record in its first four games of conference play. That all changed last weekend, as the team was able to record their first two conference wins of the season.

“[The wins] were huge,” Froelich said. “We had a rough couple of weeks. Our confidence is still up, but that just helps take us back up to that level of confidence when we know we can compete in the Big Ten again.”

Coach Duerst knows that even when the season ends and the seniors graduate, Marla’s impact will linger.

“[She has] an understanding of what the program is about — an embracement of the history of the program, the quality that we want to reach, the image we want to present as a program,” Duerst said. “She is impacting the future of the program.”

Her own future is no less bright. Froelich is set to graduate with a degree in electrical engineering this spring.

“I would like to get into audio electronics engineering,” Froelich said. “I don’t really know specifically where or how I’m going to get into anything, but that is what I would like to do.”

She has shown throughout her soccer career that hard work and determination go a long way, that attitude will undoubtedly lead to the same success in life that she has had in soccer.