UWM Soccer Profile: Aubrey Krahn

Being a student-athlete is not a part-time job. A typical Tuesday for University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee sophomore Aubrey Krahn consists of waking up for soccer practice that runs from 7-9 a.m., taking a break for an hour before her classes from 10 a.m.-12 p.m., and going in for her 2-4 p.m. lab. Keep in mind, this is just the offseason.

“It’s definitely hard,” Krahn said. “I guess I’m kind of used to it because I’ve done it my whole life, so it’s just something I grew up learning how to do it, but it’s very difficult.”

Krahn tends to take a positive outlook on her schedule, and meets challenges head-on. She has a mentality that allows her to push through obstacles in her way. She was a star center forward in high school at her hometown Waukesha North, scoring 79 goals and winning her conference’s Offensive MVP award all four years, but the transition to college soccer wasn’t seamless. Krahn didn’t play much her freshman year, but didn’t let that discourage her for her sophomore season this past year. Krahn broke through for her first career college goal and hopes to parlay that success into next year.

“It was nice to just finally get it over with,” Krahn said. “It was definitely something different because I started and played pretty much every game my whole life, so it’s definitely a learning experience and just to put it away finally was something off my back. It’s not something I have to worry about anymore and hopefully I’ll get more in the coming season.”

Krahn has adjusted well to receiving less playing time and chooses not to be bitter about it, instead putting the onus on herself. She believes it’s up to her to make the changes to her game necessary to be on the field more often and help the team win.

“I’m hoping to increase my minutes and get more chances for goals, because I did play a lot, but I wasn’t dangerous enough,” said Krahn. “I’m really trying to look to put the ball in the back of the net and become dangerous.”

If Krahn is able to start putting the ball in the net at anywhere near the rate she did in high school, she will make the Panthers, who won the Horizon League regular season title in 2015, even more dangerous next year. The Panthers fell short in the Horizon League tournament, but that doesn’t change the team’s expectations for next year. They’ll look to improve upon their 11-3-4 record and make a run through the Horizon League tournament. Krahn’s ultimate goal is to help the team win. She received a plethora of awards in high school: she garnered an all-conference selection four years, second-team all-area four times, was a team captain for two years, and was selected “Best of the Rest” for the state of Wisconsin all four years. While Krahn says the accolades are something she can look back on and be thankful for, winning awards isn’t something that’s on her mind for her college career.

“I used to be really big into awards, but I think that at this level, I’m just so proud that I made it where I did,” said Krahn. “I don’t play for awards anymore, but it would be nice.”

Soccer is only one aspect of her life, however. She still has to juggle her responsibilities as a student, which include majoring in kinesiology and minoring in psychology. Kinesiology, which is the study of human movement, is a major she shares with several of her teammates. She says it helps because they are all in the same situation as her and understand the struggles that can come with balancing their busy schedules, so they are able to help each other out. Krahn hopes to go to graduate school for physical therapy and then stay in the area for her professional career.

“I definitely want to stay on the sports route, so I’m looking to go into sports kinesiology,” she said.

Krahn doesn’t have much free time between her duties as both a student and an athlete, but when she does have time to spare, she enjoys going to the Pancake House with her friends, taking naps and watching TV. She’s currently hooked on the medical drama Grey’s Anatomy and begrudgingly admits that she has been watching the dating show, The Bachelor. She says there is a solid mixture between Netflix and live TV.

While she doesn’t have much extra time on her hands Krahn never has any complaints about her schedule. Typical of her personality, she finds the positive in the situation.

“It’s a lot more of a commitment in college and it’s more of a job that anything else,” Krahn said.  “You’re pretty much being paid to play here. It’s definitely more stressful, but it’s a good change; it’s something new.”