Climbing Ivy

Just as with most cases of standout athletes, the transition from high school to college soccer was an eye-opening experience for Park University’s Ivy Chapin.
The Fort Osage High School graduate said she didn’t have a clue of what the next level was about until she stepped on the practice field in Parkville.
“I think I played a different style of soccer before I got here,” Chapin said. “It’s way more serious here. I didn’t know that. It’s intense.”
Chapin is now one of four seniors on a nationally ranked Park team that advanced last season to the second round of the NAIA national tournament. A fine arts major, the midfielder is also a two-time first-team All-Midlands Collegiate Athletic Conference performer and scholar athlete.
The Pirates are leaning on Chapin and her classmates to provide leadership to a team loaded with talented newcomers and battle-tested returnees.
“I think we can get up there really high this year,” Chapin said of Park’s national tournament goals. “We have a great team this year.”
In three previous seasons, Chapin has played on teams that have reached the NAIA national tournament twice. With the Pirates joining the American Midwest Conference this season, Chapin said she refuses to hold anything back in her last go-round at Park.
“I’m trying not to look back,” Chapin said. “This is like the last time I may get to play soccer with a team and I just want to have fun. I’m going to try to do my best to do all I can do to help this team.”
Chapin said her time at Park has been “a lot of fun.”
“I’ve gotten to meet a lot of people from different countries and I really like the friends I have made since I’ve been here,” she said. “I had no idea what it would be like when I got here. I wanted to go to a school that was close and had a good soccer program. This was the perfect fit for me.”
Pirates head coach Ken Hefner said in the four years Chapin has been at the school he has seen her grow from a quiet, reserved freshman to an outstanding leader and soccer player.
“In the four years that Ivy has been here, she has grown up each year,” Hefner said. “Typically, when freshmen come in here they are really quiet, keep to themselves and try to find their niche a little bit. She came back as a sophomore and grew up an awful lot by taking more of a leadership role with the team just by her actions.
“She was more involved, more comfortable with the ball and playing with others. She really expanded her game. As a junior, she had great year. She came out of her shell and became more of an attacking player. She’s just carried that over to her senior year. Even though she’s had a step back or two along the way, she’s overcame that and been tremendous.”
Hefner said he also expects solid contributions this season from Lee’s Summit North graduate MacKenzie Wilkins, a freshman.
“She has played a lot of high level soccer,” Hefner said of Wilkins. “We expect her to come in here and contribute. She’s a good fit for our program.”