"It's definitely been an untypical route for me to play here, but I believe everything happens for a reason," said Edwards, who is now entering her third season with the Angelo State soccer team after earning the Lone Star Conference Goalkeeper of the Year award last year and receiving a 10 semester extension waiver from the NCAA over the summer.

"If I didn't love the sport of soccer, then I wouldn't have wanted to come back for another season," Edwards said. "I've gone through a lot to come back two years ago and then everything it took to be able to play again this season. I wasn't ready to be done with soccer or this group of players we have here. Soccer means team and a family to me. That's really important."

Edwards, a 2007 graduate of San Angelo Lake View, has never taken anything in her life for granted. Despite the weekly and postseason awards that came last season and being a named a captain this season, she knows from past experiences that nothing comes easy and her journey is about taking on new challenges on a daily basis. She understands the starting position is not being giftwrapped and she is putting in the work along with Shantel Wittke and Kimber Collins who are talented newcomers at the goalkeeper position.

"Dani coming back is a great thing for our team," ASU head coach Travis McCorkle said. "She is a player that lifts up her teammates and expects a lot from them. She is a high quality goalkeeper and now with Shantel and Kimber, she is being pushed to improve and earn that spot again. I'm excited about our goal keeping this year."
 
The Untypical Route
Also attending Angelo State University while waiting tables at two restaurants, doing construction for a plumbing company and working for a delivery service, Edwards was approached about an opportunity to try out for the soccer team in the middle of the 2011 season. Despite not playing organized soccer since her high school days at Lake View, a series of circumstances lead to a need at the goalkeeper position at ASU. She tried out, made the team and played in the second half of three games and made six saves. 

While playing goalkeeper and attending her hometown university, she kept juggling the time demands and responsibilities of the variety jobs to provide for life's necessities.

"I've worked a lot of different jobs in my life to support myself," Edwards said. "We gutted places and put in medical gas lines at the hospital when I was at the plumbing company. I'd leave there and wait tables.  I was always taught to work hard and never give up. It was a big challenge keeping my focus on everything, but I do think it's helped me."

Edwards returned to the soccer field for the 2012 season as the starting goalkeeper at ASU and made the most of her opportunity. Still waiting tables, she started all 20 games of the season, establishing herself as the anchor of the conference's top defensive unit and earned recognition as the LSC's Goalkeeper of the Year after recording eight shutouts and 79 saves.

"Coming into the program later was probably better for me," Edwards said. "There were a lot of aspects of the game that I had to relearn because I was out of it for so long, but it's been a great experience out here the past two years. It was pretty amazing what happened last year."
 
It was time to move on in life, but then…
When ASU fell in penalty kicks in the semifinals of the LSC tournament, the season ended for the team and the collegiate careers of five seniors. Edwards was one of those Rambelles who thought their last game had been played. She was at peace, happy she had returned to the sport for two years and was ready to finish off school. The path changed though when an offseason appeal to the NCAA was made. Since she had not played organized soccer after high school and other conditions, her eligibility for another season was appealed and the decision was made that she would have another year to play.

"I really thought that last year would be my final season," Edwards said. "You leave it all on the field in that situation. Now I'm given an opportunity to continue playing and I really want us to finish the things we didn't finish last year. I did earn some of the top awards in the conference, but there is so much more that this team is capable of and I'm excited to help us achieve those goals we have."

"Having Dani come back for another season was like a warm blanket for our team," McCorkle said. "We know how strong she is as a goalkeeper and the team understood that her coming back was a great thing for us."

Before preseason camp started, Edwards and fellow senior Jordan Benfield were named team captains. Benfield, who herself is overcoming adversity after missing the last half of the 2012 season with a knee injury, are tasked with displaying leadership to a team with 13 underclassmen. That process extends to their roles on the field and away from it and is being embraced by both senior captains.

"Dani is a great captain and goalkeeper for us," Benfield said. "She sees the entire field and has the responsibility to keep the defense in the right positions and focused. She has to keep the ball out of the net, but also control all of us out on the field. She's constantly talking and letting the defenders know where to go."

"Leadership on the field comes through talking and directing the team, but it's also about what we do off the field that matters," Edwards added. "The choices and decisions we make away from the field are just as important to our success as what we do on the field. It's a big role to be a captain and one that I take serious. I'm older because of my situation and I feel kind of like a momma bear to the team this year."

Back to the grind, back to proving herself
Spending the past seven years as a waitress, Edwards knows that you show up to work every day having to prove yourself over and over. Each table deserves and expects the best service and tips reflect your focus. The same principle can be applied to goalkeeping. Recording a shutout on a Friday is great, but come Sunday it's time to do it again.

Edwards is not taking anything for granted this season and that includes playing time. Despite the awards, the 20 starts and 1,818 minutes of experience last season, the starting goalkeeping position is not a label that is being handed out. Wittke, a sophomore transfer from the University of Arkansas-Little Rock and Collins, a freshman, have had strong preseason practices and are working hard to earn starts and playing time. They're also pushing Edwards to become stronger in goal and mentally in her approach to the sport. 

"It's been good to have the other goalkeepers out here to push us to all get better," Edwards said. "They're all great goalkeepers and have been working really hard here at practice. They've been a huge help to me by talking to me about what I'm doing wrong and helping me get through some of the tough days when it's hot and physically demanding.

"You just keep going and do what you can to help the team," she said. "I'm ready to see what this team is capable of achieving."

Edwards and the Angelo State soccer team opens the 2013 season on Thursday at New Mexico Highlands before returning to San Angelo to host Ouachita Baptist at 2 p.m. on Saturday and then Wayland Baptist at 4 p.m. on Sunday at the ASU Soccer Field.