Why Michigan's Faith Webber took a chance on Utah Valley, and the skateboard that helped renew her love for the game
Why Michigan's Faith Webber took a chance on Utah Valley, and the skateboard that helped renew her love for the game
The former junior college national champion at Delta College in her home state of Michigan has rekindled her love for the game while recalibrating records at Utah Valley.
OREM, Utah — Faith Webber is on a scoring tear.
Utah Valley’s star forward has scored five goals with an assist in the Wolverines’ 2-1-1 start to the 2023 season, a year after she broke the program’s single-season scoring record with 14 goals to go along with seven assists in her first season after transferring from Delta College in her home state of Michigan.
But there was a time when Webber, who hails from Grand Blanc, wasn’t certain about her soccer future. For a moment, she stepped away from the game she loved, leaving her the program at Grand Blanc High School after scoring 58 combined goals as a freshman and sophomore.
So what brought her back? Nothing to do with soccer — but a short board with four wheels, and the culture surrounding it, excited for the “challenge” of skating, snowboarding and the action sports scene.
“I really liked the way that it challenged me,” Webber said on the most recent episode of the Salt City FC podcast. “I got really into it, and I’ve taken a step back during the current season because of injuries and stuff. But I think what is important being a Division I athlete is not revolving your entire life around it.
“There’s a lot of pressure that comes with it, and if you’re stuck in all the time, it can suck the fun out of it. It helped me realize that I’m a Division I athlete, on top of a bunch of other things.”
Webber still keeps her skateboard and takes it out in the offseason. The last couple of years, she’s hosted an all-girls skateboarding event in Flint, Michigan, too. In many ways, it’s good for her mental health and keeps her grounded in something other than the black-and-white ball she’s grown to love through hours of daily dedication.
Skating has also brought her in touch with a culture that suits her — including a hardcore skating culture on the Wasatch Front that has welcomed a girl from Michigan with open arms.
”It’s a lot different than where I come from,” she said. “I’ve been able to find a lot of people that I can talk to, that I can become friends with, outside of soccer. It’s really nice to have a break and not just think and talk about soccer all the time. We can get into a rabbit hole, and it’s not always healthy. But it’s nice to be able to feel like a regular person every now and then.”
Still, right now, she’s focused on soccer, where Utah Valley faces perhaps its biggest challenge of the season.
The Wolverines will travel to in-state rival Utah to face the Utes (2-1-1) on Wednesday night (6 p.m. MT, Pac-12 Network) before returning home to host No. 7 BYU (4-0) on Saturday (7 p.m. MT, ESPN+). They’ll be looking to draw in a little Clyde Field Magic, where UVU is an impressive 100-42-14 all-time with just four losses in the past five seasons.
They may need it, too, against a BYU side that is 7-1 all-time against Utah Valley. Of course, that one loss came a year ago, when the Wolverines went to South Field in Provo and emerged with a 4-2 victory over the storied program (BYU came back with a 3-0 shutout to open the NCAA Tournament in 2022).
Undoubtedly, a win would be huge for the program, a key step toward the team’s ultimate goal of a top-25 national ranking, another Western Athletic Conference title, and a home match in the NCAA Tournament.
It would also mean the completion of a dream for Webber, who took a chance on Utah Valley after winning the NJCAA DIII national championship at Delta in 2020, recording 24 goals and 12 assists in just 12 matches and earning national tournament MVP honors.
Then began the long journey to UVU, which included a 25-hour road trip over 1,673 miles in her Kia Soul, where she connected with another native Michigander in head coach Chris Lemay.
“I’m really fortunate,” Webber said. "“At my junior college, I wasn’t sure the path I would have with soccer; when you go to play at a two-year school, you don’t know what’s next. But when I got in contact with some of my old club coaches, I wanted to take it to the next level. I found that passion for the game that I had when I was a kid, and I wanted to continue to take it to the next level. He knew a guy, and the guy happened to be Chris, and thought it might be a good fit for me.
“I connect really well with Chris. He’s always believed in me, and believed in what I could bring to the program, which is something that I’m really thankful for. I always wanted to move west; I have a draw to the mountains and skater culture, so when I was telling the coach, there was that connection that helped me get from Michigan all the way out here.”
Now that she’s here, she might as well win something — and break some records along the way — while skating on by.