The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
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only, to date, ACC Player of the Year in the sport. Making the achieve- ment even more noteworthy is that Hamilton was not a goal-scoring forward or a possession wizard in the midfield. She was a defender, typically a non-glamorous position on the soccer field. In many ways, Hamilton was born to play soccer. Her father, Floyd Hamilton, played collegiate tennis at South- ern Miss and continued to compete into his 30s. Her older sister Patty Hamilton, now Patty Steinwedell, was NC State's best tennis player during the 1980s. Thus the competitive genes run deep in the family. Hamilton herself played tennis for a while, but around the age of 8 she played soccer in a boys' league, since there were no women's soccer leagues at the time, and was an instant success. By the time she was 13, Hamilton was playing up an age group with the under-16 girls team and was already one of its best players. "I realized quickly what I had on all these girls was I was faster than them, and I was just born that way," Hamilton recalled. "Thank God, speed is a blessed asset, I'll tell you that." Family legend has it, although Hamilton herself does not recall it, that she boldly proclaimed when she was about 10 years old she was going to play for the U.S. National Team. It was an incredibly vision- ary dream for Hamilton since no such team existed then. When it came time to choose a college, NC State had a built-in advantage through her older sister, and Hamilton had some former club teammates playing soccer for the Wolfpack, too. "On my visit, because my sister had gone there not too long before, there were still people there that had played with my sister," Hamil- ton noted. "Obviously the coach there [Larry Gross] made everyone aware that we were visiting. I almost felt like I already went there, if that makes sense. "I had teammates [at NC State], and I liked the idea of coming into a program and helping bring a championship to them and being a part of something like that." In those days, bringing a championship home meant going through North Carolina. The Tar Heels under head coach Anson Dorrance became a quick powerhouse of unprecedented levels. UNC had won four of the first five national titles in women's soccer by the time Hamilton arrived at NC State in 1987. But the Pack assembled its own collection of talent to rival UNC's. Barbara Wickstrand was a two-time All-American and a senior when Hamilton arrived. Two-time All-American and school Hall of Famer Charmaine Hooper also enrolled in 1987 and remains the school's all-time leading goal scorer. The second-leading scorer is Laura Kerrigan, who was a junior in 1987. The team's all-time leader in assists is Jill Rutten, who was a sophomore when Hamilton showed up. On the ACC's 50th Anniversary Team, Kerrigan, Rutten, Hooper and Fabienne Gareau joined Hamilton as members from the teams of 1987-89 that were honored. Lindsay Brecher was not on that list, but she was a three-time All-ACC selection and the ACC Tournament MVP in 1988. The 1988 season would be the only time before 2004 that North Carolina did not win the ACC Tournament, with the Wolfpack taking the title. However, the Heels got its revenge on NC State in the NCAA Tournament final, beating NC State, 4-1. A year later, UNC got the Pack again in the Final Four, 2-0. "Carolina was just dominant at that point," Hamilton said. "We didn't have anything to lose. We were talented and were able to play. We did beat them in penalty kicks for the first-ever ACC Championship. "If it weren't for them, I believe NC State would have had a couple national titles in the '80s." In 1989, though, Hamilton made a difficult decision — she trans- ferred to UNC. Years later, Hamilton noted there was a simple reason and it had nothing to do with the old adage that if you can't beat them, join them. It was, in essence, a business decision that revolved around that dream — now a reality — of playing for the U.S. National Team, which Hamilton joined while she was at NC State. At the time, the national team was made up of college players and coached by Dorrance. Most of Hamilton's older friends were retiring from soccer after college because there was no way to stay in training with the absence of a professional league, but Hamilton wanted to keep playing. Dorrance had taken advantage of the NCAA rules that allowed former players to train with current college players. "So the real reason was to have also a training ground because I wanted to stay on the national team as long as I could, and I had seen everyone retiring quickly because there was no way to stay training," Hamilton said. "There was a little bit of myself looking ahead to the future." The decision was anything but easy. Hamilton loved her time at NC State and remains a fan to this day. She has fond memories of walking through the Free Expression Tunnel on campus and going to basketball games at Reynolds Coliseum to watch Chris Corchiani and Rodney Monroe. "Back in the day there wasn't a whole lot of women's athletics," Hamilton noted. "So you felt like you were part of something cool. Natural Star Linda Hamilton Was A Central Part Of The Best Women's Soccer Teams In School History WHERE ARE THEY NOW? Linda Hamilton Women's Soccer (1987-89) Age: 49 Living: Georgetown, Texas Occupation: Head women's soccer coach at Southwestern University Did You Know? Hamilton made 82 appearances with the United States National Team and started in both the 1991 and 1995 World Cups. She was inducted into the Georgia Soccer Hall of Fame in 2001. JANUARY 2019 ■ 59