This feature originally appeared in the Fall edition of the Cal Sports Quarterly. The Cal Athletics flagship magazine features long-form sports journalism at its finest and provides in-depth coverage of the scholar-athlete experience in Berkeley. Printed copies are mailed four times a year to Bear Backers who give annually at the Bear Club level (currently $600 or more). For more information on how you can receive a printed version of the Cal Sports Quarterly at home, send an email to calbearbackers@berkeley.edu or call (510) 642-2427.



The 2016 Cal women's soccer team - competing in its 35th anniversary season - has a first-timer leading the way in senior forward Arielle Ship.
 
Over the course of their long history in Berkeley, the Golden Bears have produced their fair share of outstanding student-athletes: All-Americans and all-conference honorees, academic scholars and professional draft picks. The world even saw a pair of Bears and their national teams face each other to begin the Olympics tournament in Rio when the USA's Alex Morgan lined up opposite Betsy Hassett of New Zealand.
 
From a competitive standpoint, the level of individual achievement the program has produced goes along with how exceptional it has been since its inception. However, having a player earn conference player of the year was one award that was missing from the team's athletic résumé.
 
Until Ship filled that void last fall.
 
A native of Westlake Village, Calif., Ship etched her name in the Cal record books after a junior season in which she scored 14 times (including six game-winning goals) and tallied 34 total points (with her team-leading six assists included). As a result, she became the first Golden Bear to pace the league in points and goals since Laura Schott accomplished the feat nearly 15 years ago.
 
"Ari is truly a special talent on the field," head coach Neil McGuire said. "She is blessed with the innate ability to score goals and has been instrumental in our team's success. Her dedication to her personal soccer development has been apparent ever since I have known her. She is a fierce competitor and her desire to win is insatiable. She has faced the challenge of college athletics head on and has succeeded where others may have failed."
 
Ship's list of achievements – All-American, first-team All-Pac-12, several Player of the Week awards – is certainly impressive. But the path to those accomplishments took a number of twists along the way.
 
Coming out of high school, Ship earned top-25 recruit status from TopDrawerSoccer and Youth All-America honors. She paced all Cal freshman in minutes played her rookie year, then picked up Pac-12 honorable mention accolades in her second season in 2014 before her breakout campaign last fall.
 
The path to reach that point, however, wasn't necessarily a smooth one, as any number of bumps along the way, both on and off the pitch, could have stopped her upward trajectory.
 
Like many student-athletes, Ship has used the support of her family to buoy her during her academic and athletic pursuits. She cites her mother, Ami, younger sisters (twins Hannah and Alexa, and youngest Nicole) and her late grandfather, Martin Solomon, as her biggest influences. In the case of mother and sisters, Arielle's bond grew stronger to them after her parents divorced in 2006.
 
Coping with a separation is difficult for any child; in Ship's case, having it happen unexpectedly at the formative age of 10 made it more challenging. Such a shock to the system was painful for Arielle and her sisters, and they leaned on their mother for love, devotion and support.
 
"We went through a very painful time, as anyone can imagine," Ship said. "It was not easy to see my mother go through it all, but she always remained as strong as she could for me and my sisters' sake. She tried to keep things as normal as possible and focused on us. She is the reason all four of us are happy, healthy and successful."
 
The payoff for their perseverance has been remarkable: Nicole graduates high school in 2017, Alexa is in the Marshall School of Business at USC and Hannah is honors pre-med at UCLA.
 
Setting the pace for the trio is their Pac-12 All-Academic big sister and soon-to-be Berkeley graduate who will be the first of the young women to finish college.
 
"I always want to make my family proud because I know what my mother did for us was no easy task," Ship said. "She always tries to set a good example and was always there if we needed her."
 
Ami's example helped her daughters learn perspective, so the fact that Arielle is on pace to earn her legal studies degree from Cal while being a key contributor for a nationally ranked program is no surprise. Given her athletic reputation coming into her freshman year, her Player of the Year campaign last year isn't hard to believe either.
 
"She is a wonderful person who cares for those around her," McGuire sad. "Ari handles herself with class and dignity, and with a work ethic that allows her to have success in the classroom and on the field. We are very proud of her."
 
The boundless excitement Ship felt about starting collegiate soccer once she entered Cal was quickly put on pause before she played a game. A knee injury suffered during the preseason forced her to the bench – a first for her playing career that she would have much rather avoided.
 
"Soccer was always a very stable thing in my life," Ship said "It was something that kept me centered and focused. Not being able to play was a challenge for me. I came in my freshman year with high expectations for myself, and I felt as though I had let everyone down."
 
Ship battled valiantly through injury to see action in nine matches in 2013 while leading the newcomers in minutes played (206). It was one step in the right direction – just before her plans took a step back.
 
Ship had surgery following the season and she wasn't cleared to return to the pitch until summer. Just as she was about to step back onto the field, her grandfather passed away. The prospects of completing rehab, managing class responsibilities, staying connected to the squad and finding time to grieve could have overwhelmed her. Ship had pushed back against adversity before and vowed to do it again.
 
"Throughout the rehab process, my focus was getting my body fully healed so I could get back on the field," Ship said. "Even though I worked hard at getting better, I found that I had lost speed, skill and confidence as I was transitioning back. This was difficult to deal with I had coaches who believed in me and teammates who supported me."
 
Ship focused on "getting my soccer legs back and feeling comfortable on the pitch" in 2014 and she certainly showed progress – 21 appearances, 17 starts and four goals, which tied for third-most on the team.
 
If her sophomore year represented baby steps, Ship's junior year was a full-on sprint. She felt healthy, was more confident and gained a newfound enthusiasm for the game. Her season will go down in Cal lore and she is primed to surpass her expectations this year.
 
With everything she's accomplished and overcome, Arielle Ship has a chance to keep making history.
 
"Everything happens for a reason and maybe the reason for my struggles was to appreciate how far I've come," she said.
 
She'll be first to tell you that, every time.