Q&A with UMBC Athlete Rachel McKee

Since she started playing at , women’s soccer forward Rachel McKee has shown that she has the potential to be a bonafide scoring threat.  Because she is such a threat opposing defenses have focused on her ever since she put on a Retriever uniform, limiting her opportunities and allowing her to score only two goals her first two seasons.  So far this season the Columbia native, who played her high school career at Mt. Hebron High School, has matched her total from her first two season and has developed into an even bigger threat for the Retrievers.

Patch: You seem to be taking more shots that you wouldn’t have taken in previous years, it that a confidence thing from being an upper classman now?

Rachel McKee: I think that has something to do with it, being more confident in practice and by not coming in as a freshman you know what to expect.

Patch: Do you feel any added pressure now that you’re a junior?

McKee: It’s a different kind of feeling.  We [the juniors] all want to win more.  The older you get it’s weird because I only have one more season of soccer after this, something I’ve been doing my whole life.

Patch: With conference play coming as a sort of “second season” what’s the biggest key for the team to get back on track?

McKee:  I think confidence for us.  We have the ability, we’ve trained really hard, our practices are pretty intense, but our problem is transferring that over to the games.  Because of our past we get down some times and don’t have the confidence if we are 1-0 down early in a game to come back and that’s what we’re trying to fight through right now.

Patch: When you made you decision to play your collegiate soccer career at UMBC, how much did the proximity to home play into your decision?

McKee:  I enjoy being close to home.  It wasn’t a huge factor but I was looking at all schools that were within a two hour range.  I think what I saw when I came on my official [visit], was the team chemistry, the girls agot along, and it just felt like a match.

Patch: If you could switch places with anybody for a day, who would it be and why?

McKee: I’d say Ben Carson [a neurosurgeon and Director of Pediatrics Neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital] because I’ve read articles on him and his book and it was amazing what he’s gone through and what he sees and I want to do something in the healthcare profession.  I’m not exactly sure what though.

Patch: You still have a few years to figure it out but what do you hope to be doing after your playing career is over?

McKee: Right now I’m studying pre-physical therapy.  I know I want to go in the direction of the medical field or health care but I’m not exactly sure what.  I don’t know if I want to stay with physical therapy or sports.  What got me into it was that I tore my ACL twice so I’ve gone through the rehab.

Patch: What Internet browser do you use?

McKee:  Google Chrome.

Patch: Where is your dream vacation spot?

McKee: I went this past summer, my sister graduated college so my family went on a celebratory Mediterranean cruise through Italy and Greece so that would be my dream vacation.  

Patch: What’s your favorite movie?

McKee: I love “Remember the Titans."  It’s a classic.

Patch: If you could have dinner with five people, alive or dead, who would they be?

McKee:  Ellen DeGeneres, Ben Carson, Michael Jordan, Bill Gates, and Oprah [Winfrey].