At Smithson Valley High School, Addison Briscoe’s talent was never in question. What changed was the work she put in around it. Her high school coach, Jason Adkins, watched the shift happen in real time.

“Talent-wise, it was always there, but she knew she had to be more physically fit. She came in her junior year off the charts physically,” Adkins said.

That junior season ended in heartbreak, with a loss in the state semifinals on penalty kicks. It would become the fuel for what came next. But first, a decision had to be made about where her game would go.

The summer before her senior year, Briscoe’s path led to the ACU soccer office. She went in for a meeting with her entire family, including her brother, her dad and her mom, and walked out with an offer in hand. She had other offers and visits on the calendar.

“I got my offer with my entire family there. I had other offers and visits coming up, so I was going to let those play out and come back with an answer,” said Briscoe, freshman nursing major from New Braunfels.

She didn’t make it out of the parking lot before making up her mind.

“My dad asked, ‘What do you think?’ I said, ‘I don’t have anything bad to say. Even if I went to those other colleges, I know I’d pick this one.’ He said, ‘Then what’s the point of going to those other ones?’ So I walked back in and told them I want to commit here,” she said.

Head coach Stephen Salas said he still remembers the moment.

“She came back and said, ‘Hey, I wanna commit.’ It was a cool story,” Salas said.

He said it was meaningful since Briscoe was the Wildcats’ top target. 

“She was our number one commit, so it’s always nice to get your number one commit,” Salas said.

Along the way, Briscoe turned down interest from some of the biggest college programs. According to Adkins, the pull wasn’t really about soccer.

“She’s strong in her faith, and I think the religious nature of Abilene Christian was a big draw. She could play at the D1 level on a campus and in a community where she felt comfortable,” Adkins said.

With her future already settled, Briscoe entered her senior season at Smithson Valley with something to prove, and the memory of that semifinal loss still fresh.

“There was a fire behind everyone since the second day of school,” Briscoe said. “We were going to work our tails off and win state. It still feels not real to this day.”

As a senior captain, she helped set the tone, and Adkins credits her with keeping the group locked in.

“She got the group really focused, and I think she was a catalyst in that,” Adkins said.

Smithson Valley went on to win every match that season and brought home the Texas 5A-1 state title. Perfection.

The state title was the last chapter of her high school career, and college brought a different kind of test. The work she had put in since her sophomore year showed up almost immediately, in a preseason fitness benchmark known as the beep test, a shuttle run that gets faster every few reps until players can no longer keep pace. Briscoe had set a goal for herself.

“I set that mentally for myself,” Briscoe said. “If I’m not the last one standing on the team, I’m going to be the last freshman standing.”

In the beep test, she got a new program record, and Salas was impressed, as was everyone else on the team.

“She broke our fitness record. She got 53 on the beep test, the highest we’ve ever had. So we knew her capacity was large,” Salas said.

That athleticism has translated onto the pitch. Briscoe leads the team with four goals and is tied for first in assists. That production has carried over against ranked, bigger-school opponents, and Briscoe says those results have the team fired up heading into conference play.

“We were so confident on the ball. It didn’t matter if they were a big school. At the end of the day, there’s 11 girls on each team and we’re both just playing soccer,” she said.

With conference play underway, Briscoe says the faith that brought her to ACU continues to guide her mindset.

“Making an impact and leaving a legacy is such a big thing,” she said. “What are you gonna leave on the team when you’re gone? It’s about not taking a moment for granted and growing relationships with Christ.”