Northeastern State University sophomore soccer player Hannah Anderson is fun and bubbly and a self-proclaimed funster on the team. “I think I’m a positive person on and off the field and an encourager and kind of a jokester that can lift spirits.” Yet, her nickname is Bear. No one is really sure why. Maybe it has more to do with her demeanor on the field where she is a fierce competitor. “Hannah was a great recruit for NSU soccer,” said her coach, Chase Wooten. “I was impressed watching her play as a junior. She’s fun and personable but all business on the field and was named one of the top three freshmen in the athletic department this past year. She’s just the kind of person you want in your program.” Hannah played on the Class 6A state championship team in Broken Arrow two years ago but says she didn’t let that go to her head when she came to NSU. “I went into college soccer, not from the perspective of being a as good as I was in high school, but more like I’m starting over with a clean slate because I didn’t know what to expect,” said Hannah. “I wanted to go to college at a school where class sizes are smaller and you can better connect with your professors and somewhere I thought I would have a real chance to play right away and not sit on the bench and a place that was fairly close to home and NSU checked all three boxes for me.” She played defender in high school but when she got to NSU last year coach Wooten surprised her a little. “Coach wanted to move me to outside mid and I was kind of like “I guess so”. But then I started scoring some goals and I don’t know what he saw in me that prompted that move but it proved to be a good one for me,” said Hannah, who cited Rose Lavelle, a member of the US national team and now in the NWSL with Gotham FC, as someone she’s watched play and admired. She has adapted well to college life as a RiverHawk by getting involved in FCA and Bible study with friends and has some simple advice for anyone thinking about their college future and about NSU in particular. “I would just tell them to try it. Just try it and I think you’ll like it. I know I sure have.” Hannah is studying Human and Health Performance with an eye to one day being an ultrasound technician.
Photo credit: Randy Edwards
