Summer Denigan is a distinction maker on the sphere — however she’s by no means stopped having enjoyable – The Day by day Tar Heel

Summer Denigan is in it for the enjoyable of it. 

The graduate midfielder from Union, Kentucky has definitely helped make the No. 7 North Carolina girls’s soccer staff enjoyable to look at from the stands, and for Denigan, the sensation is mutual. 

In her fifth and ultimate 12 months enjoying faculty soccer, the main focus this season will proceed to be the identical that it has all through her profession:

Just get pleasure from it. 

“I only do this because I have fun,” Denigan mentioned. “If I can make a career out of that for myself, that’s my goal.”

The graduate midfielder definitely took a step in the direction of her aim on Thursday, serving to the Tar Heels rout Cal in a 3-0 victory wherein she had three pictures, an help and a cross over the center that led to a Cal personal aim. While she didn’t discover the web on her personal, Denigan remained a key a part of UNC’s assault, her nook kicks giving the Tar Heels loads of appears to be like on the web as North Carolina totaled 10 pictures and three targets. 

Though she is a significant a part of UNC’s offense this season, North Carolina is only one piece in Denigan’s prolonged collegiate journey, one which took her by way of three states in 5 years. In highschool, she performed on each the U15 and U17 nationwide groups and was named a United Soccer Coaches All-American in 2019 and 2020 earlier than committing to Florida State her senior 12 months. 

Her profession was placed on maintain, nonetheless, simply three video games into her time at FSU after she suffered a season-ending harm. 

But her journey didn’t finish there. Denigan transferred to Georgia, the place she spent the subsequent three years. An spectacular two years, through the first of which she was named SEC Co-Freshman of the Year, gave solution to a dominant third 12 months, with Denigan ending the season with 11 targets and being named a MAC Hermann Trophy Semifinalist. 

Her ultimate cease in her faculty profession is on the identical faculty that she hit a game-winning aim in opposition to final season, and a college that received the nationwide championship in 2024:

UNC.

“After my visit I just knew,” Denigan mentioned. “There was a peace about me that I knew that [North Carolina] is where I should be for my final year and ultimately get me to where I wanna go in my career.”

And whereas the tip aim could also be to have had a profession filled with enjoyable, Denigan has no intentions of letting off the gasoline pedal. In truth, what stood out to North Carolina head coach Damon Nahas throughout Denigan’s UNC go to was her willingness to place within the work. 

“When you have someone that wants to be pushed and really doesn’t want it easy,” Nahas mentioned. “That’s a player that I want here, and it just so happens that she’s really talented, so we got the best of both worlds there.”

This season, the work behind the scenes and the enjoyable on the sphere has already begun to point out. 

Seven video games into the season, Denigan is on tempo to interrupt her career-high of 11 targets on a season, together with her final aim in opposition to Arizona State placing her at six. Her assists have already tied her season excessive of 4.

So, for Denigan, the enjoyable has simply begun. 

@calebschalliol

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