GREAT FALLS — For the last nine years, Hallie Thompson and Anslee Klinefelter have been teammates in soccer on club and high school teams. Next year, they’ll be squaring off against each other in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) at Hamline University and Concordia Moorhead College.
Klinefelter and Thompson both had received interest from Hamline University after a travel tournament. Klinefelter committed to them but at the last minute, Thompson decided upon Concordia Moorhead as her home for the next four years. Now, the two will enter college as fresh new faces after having developed a strong familiarity with one another over the last nine years.
“I’m kind of nervous but it’s a good nervous because I’m like super excited to do something different and play with new people,” Klinefelter explained.
“I feel like after playing for so long, we just really like get each other, we almost don’t have to talk on the field because we know where each other are going to be,” Thompson said. “It’s going to be hard to form that kind of connection with someone.”
The two captains rounded out their senior year on a positive note hosting their first ever playoff game at home. Having watched both their sisters compete at a high level and advance to collegiate soccer, Klinefelter and Thompson took it upon themselves along with their talented roster to have a satisfying conclusion to their senior year.
“When my sister was a senior, I never felt there was good team chemistry. We weren’t getting the results we needed and it was just really frustrating because we were talented,” Thompson stated. “I think it was our group of seniors, not just me and Anslee, we were finally able to pull it together and live up to the expectations.”
After a successful high school career, both start anew this August with their respective programs as they wait to square off against each October 30 as competitors on the pitch for the first time in a long time.
