Women’s soccer: Ruhe sisters make mark on college soccer

When Katelyn Ruhe was a senior, she led Urbana High School to its first-ever women’s soccer… When Katelyn Ruhe was a senior, she led Urbana High School to its first-ever women’s soccer Maryland state championship — and she did it with some familiar faces by her side: her younger sisters.

“My senior year, we won it with the three of us on the team,” Ruhe said. “It was unexplainable, really, to go out winning with your sisters.”

In the Ruhe family, soccer is a sport passed down from sister to sister. It started with Ruhe’s older sister, Jen, who played soccer at the University of Richmond for four years. Ruhe’s younger sisters are twins: Amie is a freshman at Seton Hall while Julie is playing at Radford.

The Ruhe sisters don’t just play soccer, they excel at it.

After her senior year at Richmond, Jen was an Atlantic 10 Honorable Mention and NSCAA All-Mid-Atlantic Region Second Team selection.

Julie has started all eight games for Radford this season. She leads the team with four goals and added one assist. Amie played in all ten of Seton Hall’s games and started nine. She’s scored two goals and collected three assists.

Jen started playing soccer when she was about 5 years old, Ruhe said, and the next year, Ruhe wanted to be just like her older sister.

“I wanted to play too, just like every little kid,” she said.

And on down the line it went, until every one of the Ruhe sisters was playing soccer. They all kept up with the sport through the years until each one found herself performing at the collegiate level.

Now, Ruhe is a junior at who has started in every Pitt game since following the family tradition.

“We all just stuck with it somehow,” Ruhe said. “I really don’t know why. My parents didn’t play sports or anything. We all just kept playing and started playing club, getting better and getting more serious about it.”

Growing up with sisters around the same age all playing the same sport was competitive, but fun, Ruhe said. She added that it was convenient to have them around to practice with. When she was in high school, Ruhe’s dad set up a goal for the sisters in their front yard. She said they would spend a lot of time honing their skills together.

“None of us were goalkeepers, but when we went down there, one of us would play goalie so we could work on our skills,” she said.

Although Jen, who graduated, is “kind of out of the soccer loop now,” Ruhe said she talks to her younger sisters constantly about what is happening with their soccer careers, from phone calls about wins to encouraging each other after losses.

“We definitely help each other out with soccer,” Ruhe said. “We always just talk about how it is and how we’re doing.”

Ruhe found her way to Pittsburgh from rural Frederick, Md. She said she wanted a change of environment at college. She’s majoring in communications and after her undergraduate career ends, she wants to go back to nursing school to become a hospice nurse.

“I wanted a big school,” she said. “I actually visited in the pouring rain, the worst weather possible, and I still really liked the school. They recruited me, so I took a chance and here I am.”

Pitt head coach Sue-Moy Chin said she learned about Ruhe from one of her high school friends, but the Panther coaches didn’t get to see Ruhe play during her junior year because of the ACL injury.

“Her friend said ‘Hey, there’s a girl that is outstanding and coming back for her senior year. You have to see,’” Chin said. “I got to see her play really late and she was just a fantastic player.”

Chin said that Ruhe is probably one of the team’s most fit players. She’s a leader by example, she said, and a main stand at midfield.

“Her ability to dribble with speed is just fantastic,” Chin said. “She’s meant a lot to this program. She’s really raised the level of fitness within the program.”

Ruhe’s speed and athleticism stood out from the time she was being recruited, Chin said, as did her ability to win balls and complete passes.

Chin added that Ruhe still has room for improvement, such as working on balance when striking the ball, something she said the junior would be the first to admit.

Ruhe said she’s matured and relaxed since arriving at Pitt as a freshman.

“I am a really competitive person on the field and I used to get so frustrated with myself,” she said. “When I mess up, I don’t take it as hard. I think I really matured and relaxed.”