Behind the Balance: Emily Ward ’27 — Keydet Women’s Soccer 

Virginia Military Institute’s cadet-athletes have to juggle cadet life, heavy academic course loads, and their NCAA Division I sport. Committed to both academic and athletic pursuits, balancing their rigorous schedule in both sports and school requires a certain level of commitment and discipline. Behind the Balance is a series that focuses on those cadet-athletes and how they handle the hurdles of the day-to-day. 

Emily Ward ’27 was looking for the military path — either through ROTC options at colleges or by attending a military academy. Having offers from other academies and colleges thanks to playing soccer, she had her pick of places to go. 

The summer following her junior year of high school she attended a soccer camp at VMI , where she received a verbal offer to play soccer. 

That was until she tore her ACL her senior year of high school. All her other offers disappeared, except Virginia Military Institute.  

“Their offer stood, even when I got hurt,” she said.  

But it wasn’t only soccer that had Ward pulled towards VMI. 

“There was just something about it when I was going on a tour with the soccer team, I was like, even if I don’t get recruited by soccer, I want to come here,” she admitted.  

Although she couldn’t play soccer her entire senior year, she was cleared to play her first year at VMI. 

“Everything just fell into place,” Ward said. “I knew I wanted to come here. I loved the campus. I loved the people. The coaching staff was amazing, and they stayed loyal, which I really appreciated.” 

She’s dedicated most of her life to the sport, starting at the age of 6. When she was younger, she was balancing three sports — soccer, lacrosse, and basketball. Soccer was one that always stood out to her.  

While applying to colleges, she was looking at school with Division III programs. 

“I never really thought that I could play Division I. I never knew that that was in the cards for me,” she stated.  

VMI gave her that chance and then gave her the chance again when she retore her ACL her 3rd Class year. Her 2nd Class year was spent working back to her previous athletic abilities.  

“I always thought I couldn’t really return to soccer after my second time [tearing my ACL]. And I thought I wasn’t a valuable part of the team anymore being sidelined again,” she admitted.  

Despite that hurdle, Ward was nominated to be co-captain her 1st Class year. 

“When I got the captaincy after an entire season where I was working back to getting back into it, it was just truly a blessing, and it just meant so much to me having my teammates still view me like that,” she said. “Even though they’ve seen me sit the bench and they only truly saw me play my 4th Class year, it really meant the world to me. It reminded me of how I felt senior year of high school because I was captain of the team in high school.” 

It showed her that even though she wasn’t on the field all the time, you can still impact the team. 

“Everyone has a role on the team and gets noticed in different ways.” 

The team is closeknit, especially after a coach switch last year. She said her class came together to lead the team.  

“The start of this year, team morale is on a whole different high. The incoming rats are amazing. They’re great players and great people, and the team has its most involvement up on the hill in the corps. The senior class all holds officer rank or cadet government rank.” 

The international studies major is taking 17.5 credits with plans to commission into the U.S. Army. 

Cadet-athletes at VMI not only have their responsibilities with their selected sport but cadet duties on top of that. Cadets are also required to take physical fitness classes twice a week, participate in ROTC all four years, prepare for room and uniform inspections, practice for parade, guard duty, and more. 

She’s up at 6:30 a.m. daily, with classes from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. then it’s onto practice just before 5 p.m. She’s done with her day around 7:30 or 8 p.m. This year looks a little different in terms of travel. Ward said they’re only traveling for four games, the rest are just quick day trips to face their opponent.  

“The school does a good job of when we do get back at like 3 a.m. they’ll give us options or they’ll give us some time to rest and then get back to it,” she said.  

She’s the executive officer of Delta Company, which entails Rat Line activities and being the helping hand to the company commander.  

“I oversee all the sergeants and the corporals, and then I manage Rat Line operations along with Old Corps. It’s more company-based level rather than platoon-based level, which I was previously.” 

Despite busy days and exhaustion, Ward has conditioned herself to push forward. 

“We can’t use tiredness or the VMI schedule as a crutch,” she said. “We signed up for this, so we have to learn how to push through, work through that, even on hard days. I would not be where I am without my teammates or my family — relying on each other and being open with having a rough day.”