Dual-threat: Waynesburg’s Rafferty excelling in soccer and volleyball
Emily Rafferty arrived a little bit late to Waynesburg’s volleyball match at Chartiers-Houston last Thursday, but she had a pretty valid excuse.
She had just finished up playing a girls soccer game for the Raiders before making the trip up Interstate 79 to Houston.
That’s all in a day’s work for Rafferty, a junior, who has been pulling off a rare fall sports double since she was a freshman.
She plays for both the Waynesburg girls volleyball and soccer teams and is excelling at both sports.
Case in point last week against Chartiers-Houston.
After playing 80 minutes of soccer in a game that ended in a 2-2 draw with McGuffey, Rafferty showed up raring to go for the volleyball match.
She finished with 7 kills, 4 aces, 1 assist, and 3 digs for the Raiders, who won in straight sets to maintain their unbeaten record.
“She just played a soccer game and she showed up and still looked like a Superhero,” Waynesburg volleyball coach Dan Higinbotham said. “She’s phenomenal. She’s as good a person as she is a player too. Just an awesome kid.”
Rafferty enjoys playing both sports even if sometimes they overlap.
Last Thursday was no different.
“It was fun,” Rafferty said about playing two sports in one day. “I enjoy playing with both teams. It’s competitive and fun to do.”
Waynesburg girls soccer coach Terry Clutter echoed Higinbotham’s sentiments on Rafferty’s work ethic. Clutter said it’s a testament to her stamina that she can thrive playing multiple demanding sports in the fall.
Rafferty is a forward for the Raiders on the soccer field.
“First off she has an incredible motor that never stops,” Clutter said. “I don’t know how she can play both sports and it looks like she’s never tired. Secondly, she has to have amazing parents that are willing to drive her to one game in one town and then drive to another town to play half of a game. Let her be busy all day every day for weeks and months. Thirdly, she has an incredible work ethic and time management because she’s able to maintain perfect scores, taking AP and honors classes.”
Rafferty grew up playing soccer and was in the Pittsburgh Riverhounds Academy. Her mother, Kelly, is a club volleyball coach, so when Rafferty turned 12, she started playing the sport.
Then came high school and a possible decision on what sport to focus solely on.
In the end, it became a question of why not both?
“I always thought soccer was the sport I was going to do in high school and then when I got to middle school I started playing for (Higinbotham) and I loved playing for him,” Rafferty said. “I also love playing for Terry (Clutter), my soccer coach too. I didn’t want to choose, so I asked both coaches if I could do both sports and they both said yes.”
Rafferty said the work to get in good shape to play both sports starts in the summer and the time she puts in makes it fairly seamless once the season arrives.
“In the summer, it’s typically a volleyball practice in the morning and a soccer practice in the afternoon,” Rafferty said. “Then I go to the gym to stay in shape, so when school starts and the season comes around it’s pretty easy to hop into both sports.”
As an outside hitter, Rafferty is part of a strong attack that features hitters all over the net. She routinely gets between five and 15 kills per match.
On the soccer field, Rafferty is also part of an attack in the forward group. She had a pair of goals and an assist in a 4-4 tie against Seton LaSalle Monday and had a hat trick on two separate occasions this season against Charleroi and Washington.
“She has a very high soccer IQ,” Clutter said. “It’s not like she’s just a great athlete that we put out there and tell her to run. She has good touches,makes good runs and is a solid striker with her right and her left foot. A total team player willing to play anywhere we want her to.”
Rafferty is leaning toward playing volleyball in college. She said she visited Lake Erie College for volleyball.
“Volleyball is what I’m aiming to do,” Rafferty said. “I used to play club soccer and club volleyball, but the practices were at the same time, so I had to choose one and I chose volleyball.”
Last Thursday wasn’t the first time she played volleyball and soccer on the same day. She did so in the WPIAL playoffs last year.
She was on the court for Waynesburg in a five-set loss in the semifinals to Avonworth at Peters Township and then made it to Peters Township Middle School to play the second half of Waynesburg’s 1-0 loss to Bentworth in the WPIAL girls soccer semifinals.
“When we lost the game to Avonworth, it motivated me to really want to win the Bentworth game,” Rafferty said. “We only lost the volleyball games by three points and two points and the soccer match by one goal, so it was really disappointing, but at the same time it was a fun day and really competitive.”
Rafferty is hopeful to make deep playoff runs with both teams again this year. She just wants the games to be on separate days.
But if she has to do both again on the same day, she’ll be ready.