It is the fall of 2006, and College of Wooster women’s soccer forward Winnie Adrien has just scored another goal for the Division III Scots. However, as Adrien runs back down the field, something does not feel right. That goal was too simple. The satisfaction that is supposed to come with every successful play is not there for Adrien. Her competitiveness is screaming for tougher opponents.

The now Ithaca College junior wanted something more out of her college soccer career. The College of Wooster’s Division III philosophy was not what she was looking for.

“At Wooster, everyone thought of the program as Division III,” she said. “Athletes were not working their hardest because they said it was ‘just Division III.’ It was frustrating not competing at a level I wanted to compete at.”

The Wooster team was just trying to place in the top half of the league, another level of mediocrity that Adrien was not willing to take.

By the time Wooster dropped her sports medicine major during her first semester, Adrien had already been contemplating a transfer. Coupled with the soccer program, Ithaca’s exercise science program made the college a perfect switch for her.

So, Adrien decided to transfer to Ithaca College, where instead of setting their sights on finishing in the top half of the league, the Bombers were striving for the national final four. This was the mind-set she was looking for.

Another influence in Adrien’s decision to transfer was her brother Alex Adrien, ’08, who had been a member of the men’s basketball and soccer teams. The two had been inseparable for nearly their whole lives, and when her brother found out she wanted to transfer, he guided her in the right direction.

“Going to Wooster was a good growing experience for her,” Alex Adrien said. “At the same time though, we had such a tight relationship that we weren’t ready to part ways like that.”

In her first full season with the Bombers, Adrien fit right in. She was Ithaca’s second leading scorer in 2007, helping to lead the Bombers to the NCAA sectional final.

It might have looked like an easy transition, but for Adrien, being a transfer student was different from coming in as a freshman.

“It was a little harder meshing with the other sophomores and members of the team than it would have been if I had come in as a freshman,” she said. “Half of us are all in the same major though, so that helped a lot.”

Acceptance was not a problem with this team though, because many on the team had heard of her talent and athleticism.

“We heard a lot about her,” senior forward Chelsey Feldman said. “We knew she would help us with her athleticism and speed.”

Head Coach Mindy Quigg saw those assets from the first day of practice.

“She has exceptionally quick feet when she moves with the ball,” she said.

Those quick feet did not just get that fast on their own though — as Adrien is often the athlete working the hardest on and off the field. Feldman said Adrien is passionate with her work ethic and that transfers onto the field.

This season, her second with the Bombers, Adrien’s 12 goals are tied for the best on the team, and her 28 overall points rank her first. However, the team’s success is what Adrien said makes her happiest. The Bombers are 11–1–2 in the season after their double overtime win against rival Nazareth College on Saturday. The win clinched the Empire 8 regular-season title for Ithaca, but with the team’s sights set on the final four, Adrien is exactly where she wants to be.