Ritchey, Campbell-Phipps reflect on State High careers ahead of NCAA Tournament matchup with Boston

One Nittany Lion, after one of her last practices in the shadow of Beaver Stadium, peered over to the Jeffrey Field stands and reminisced.

Another walked off the training ground with a gleam in her eyes and a bag of soccer balls slung over her right shoulder — the duty of a rookie.

Megan Ritchey and Taylor Campbell-Phipps, a pair of State College Area High School standouts, are united not only by their past as former Lady Little Lions, but also by Penn State women’s soccer’s pursuit of a national championship, which continues at 6:30 p.m. on Friday as the Nittany Lions (17-3-2) face Boston University (13-5-3) in the NCAA Tournament’s second round.

They’re in similar situations now, too, playing and practicing together in the same blue and white uniforms with the same teammates. But how they got to Penn State isn’t as symmetrical.

‘My dream kind of died’

Ritchey was 6 or 7 years old when she first attended a game at Jeffrey Field. She doesn’t remember who won, or what team the Nittany Lions even played.

“But I’ll never forget the sound under my feet and the lights on the field,” Ritchey said.

It’s easy to forgive Ritchey for not recalling that first game. Not only was she young, but she’s also seen a lot of games over the years.

Ritchey is a senior now. She’s seen action in 22 games over her four years, and has been with the team for a total of 96 contests. When Boston University visits on Friday night, it’ll be 97, which, in its own right, is remarkable. Because if you asked Ritchey five years ago, she’d tell you that number would be zero.

As a young player, she wanted nothing more than to play for Penn State.

Ritchey had a distinguished high school career. A scoring threat for the Lady Little Lions, she helped lead her side to four district championships.

Although, early in her time at State High, reality hit Ritchey: She didn’t think she was good enough.

“I kind of grew up, and things changed,” she admitted. “My dream kind of died a little bit.”

Ritchey started to make other plans. Early in her high school career, she was looking at other schools — smaller schools, schools that were close to home.

But it was still tough for Ritchey to imagine being anywhere but Penn State.

That’s when she earned a couple opportunities to prove herself. As a junior at State High, she worked out for the Penn State staff.

At the time, she didn’t think anything of it. Until one night, late in her junior year, her dream received new life.

“My dad came up to my room,” Ritchey said, “and said he got some information from the coaches, and they want you to take the spot to walk-on.

“I couldn’t say yes faster.”

A matter of happenstance

Campbell-Phipps had no intention of going to Penn State.

Her commitment lay elsewhere, “Until I couldn’t really help myself,” Campbell-Phipps said.

Before arriving in Happy Valley, she was girl from Houston destined for OSU — no, not that OSU, but Oklahoma State.

Campbell-Phipps was thriving in Texas. So much so that the athletic defender was invited to the 2009 U.S. Soccer U14 National Identification Camp.

Eventually, Campbell-Phipps caught the eye of Penn State coach Erica Walsh.

“We recruited her pretty hard,” the coach said.

Campbell-Phipps liked Penn State, but was ultimately set to become a Cowboy, not a Nittany Lion.

A change of scenery altered that mindset.

The day after Campbell-Phipps verbally committed to Oklahoma State, her mother landed a job at Penn State in the office of global studies. With the new job came a move to State College — and for Campbell-Phipps, an acclimation to the university and Walsh’s program.

She spent her junior and senior years at State High, helping the Lady Little Lions to a pair of district titles. At the club level, she was just as successful, flourishing with the U16 and U17 teams for Player Development Academy’s Elite Club National Leagues.

It wasn’t long before Campbell-Phipps caved, switching her commitment from Oklahoma State to Penn State.

“Just being in this environment, being in Happy Valley, going to the Friday night games,” Campbell-Phipps said, “you can’t help but have this passion for it.”

‘It’s just really cool’

Kevin Morooney can go back to a time before Penn State had a varsity women’s soccer team.

The coach of State College girls’ soccer for a quarter century before leaving the program last year, Morooney had a pair of players join Penn State in its inaugural year of 1993, and another former Lady Little Lion welcomed the following year.

Then, there was a gap of almost 20 years before another Lady Little Lion suited up for Penn State — before Ritchey broke the spell.

Morooney has closely followed the Penn State careers of Ritchey and Campbell-Phipps, as his former players represent the State College community on the pitch.

“Being able to see a Megan or a Taylor do that in an NCAA competitive forum, it’s just really cool,” Morooney said. “It’s really exciting for local kids to see somebody that they know and that they’ve gone to school with.”

Walsh concurred, saying her program would love to pick up as many local players as possible, whether that’s from State College or around Centre County.

For Ritchey and Campbell-Phipps, the community’s backing has been overwhelmingly positive, whether it’s classmates or parents frequenting the silver seats of Jeffrey Field.

That support from the crowd figures to be the same as the Nittany Lions run out to the pitch, under the lights on Friday night.

Just as Ritchey will always remember it.

This story was originally published November 19, 2015 at 9:23 PM with the headline "Ritchey, Campbell-Phipps reflect on State High careers ahead of NCAA Tournament matchup with Boston."