Southern Oregon soccer player Stephanie Carr (Upland, Calif./Upland) earned first-team all-conference recognition last season as a sophomore, but the fact that she can play soccer at all was not a given just a few years ago.

The junior from Upland, Calif., was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis – an inflammation of the large intestine – during her junior year of high school. Ulcerative colitis can lead to internal bleeding and caused her to lose a lot of blood at the time. It almost became severe enough to require surgery.

"I never know how I am going to feel every day," Carr explained.

Her collegiate career could have ended before it started. She nearly quit playing soccer altogether in high school.

"If it had gotten bad enough, I wouldn't have been able to play sports," explains Carr. "I was always really tired. I couldn't eat as much. Everything I was eating was putting me in agonizing pain. It was really hard to fuel for sports. Even playing the sports caused a flair, and then I would have to go the hospital."

In high school she sat out her sophomore and junior years from soccer, choosing instead to run cross-country and track, where she focused on the 400m, 800m, 4x400m and two-mile run.

"I thought I was going to run in college," Carr said.

The stress on her body from her condition was becoming too much.

"(It was) hard to play all three sports. I had to choose one," Carr said about her decision to switch back to soccer her senior year.

Due to the late switch, she had missed most of the recruiting process for soccer. She talked to her good friend Chenin Young (Upland, Calif./Upland), who was just beginning her soccer career at SOU.

Carr contacted Jon Clement, the SOU head coach, and was able to find a spot on the team. Clement wasn't too concerned about Carr's layoff.

"We knew Steph to be a competent technician, so it was really only a matter of getting her match timing back," Clement said.

Her history with ulcerative colitis also did not factor in Clement's view.

"It was apparent from our first meeting that she's a resilient person and not one to be held down, so I was pretty sure that her resolve would overcome whatever physical ailments she had to deal with," Clement said. 

The chemistry program sold Carr on SOU. She is majoring in biochemistry and wants to be a pediatrician.

"(It's the) only thing I have ever wanted to do," Carr said.

The challenges of being a biochemistry major took full force in her organic chemistry class last year.

"It was an awful class, but I absolutely loved it," Carr says with a smile. "It took over my life. I had dreams about organic chemistry. I felt like a complete nerd."

As if organic chemistry and ulcerative colitis are not enough of a challenge, in the last spring game of Carr's freshmen year she tore her meniscus and partially tore her medial collateral ligament. Surgery has been put on hold because her insurance is not covering it, but that's not likely to slow her down.

"I wear a brace and keep playing" Carr said."I'm not one to miss a game."

As she sees other players out due to injury, she feels lucky to be able to play.

"Each game, take it as if it is your last,” Carr said. “Never take it for granted, you never know when your time is up."

Carr still enjoys running and the friendships it helped her make, but she is happy about her switch from cross-country to soccer.

"I would never go back,” Carr said. “I love soccer!"

Meanwhile, Carr's work on and off the field continues to impress Clement.

"She's coachable, a competitor, a great and committed student, highly resilient and an integral part of who we are and what we try and do on the field,” Clement said. “I think we're fortunate to have her on our team."