In either case, the Baylor women’s soccer program will benefit next year from the presence of the Belton senior and her tough-as-nails style of play.
Hagen has signed an NCAA Division I soccer letter of intent with Baylor, and the occasion was celebrated Thursday afternoon with numerous family and friends - and a roomful of Bears memorabilia.
“I looked around. But everywhere I went, I compared it to Baylor and it wasn’t as good,” Hagen said. “I like the campus and the atmosphere and the coach. She seems like she’s really going to push everybody every day to get better.”
Hagen isn’t one that needs to be pushed. A first-team all-district player the last three years and the league’s Most Valuable Player in 2007, she has tallied 60 goals and 55 assists thus far, despite a devastating knee injury following her sophomore year.
“What she was asked to do her sophomore year was be the center of the team. Everything we did was centered around her,” Belton coach Barry Elkins said. “Now she’s being asked to dominate the middle of the field and help everybody else be a better player, and she’s being just as successful at that.”
Next fall she will be asked to help a Baylor team that went 5-11-3 last season make a climb up the Big 12 Conference rankings.
It might sound like a daunting task. But then again, Hagen has already overcome long odds by returning to form following her injury.
“The hardest part (of my high school career) was the injury,” she said. “Every once in a while there were times when I thought it might be too hard, but I never thought too much about giving it up.”
After getting back up to speed last season, Hagen has returned to her relentless style of play as a senior - albeit in a midfielder’s role.
“I don’t think I’ve had a player play so many positions as successfully as she has,” Elkins said. “When I’ve asked Michelle to play a different position, it’s because there’s a need. She’s been asked to do it in crucial situations at crucial times at a moment’s notice. And she’s gone out and done it.”
And now that she has signed on the dotted line, Hagen is looking forward to finishing out her final season with the Lady Tigers while keeping an eye on her future team.
“It feels good to not have to decide any more about where I’m going to go,” she said. “Before, I was always thinking about trying to impress the people who I needed to impress. Now I can just play.
“I’m just looking forward to being with my new team and experiencing college and college soccer next year.”
