Colorado State University Athletics
Senior Profile: Catherine Ruder
10/23/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
By Craig Buchanan
Athletic Media Relations
FORT COLLINS, Colo. – Catherine Ruder grew up playing high school soccer in Colorado Springs and had always envisioned herself competing at the next level collegiately. A three-time all-state selection in high school, Ruder found herself with a couple of options coming out of high school, but settled on San José State for its occupational therapy program.
Instantly, Ruder found herself making an impact for the Spartans on and off the field, starting in 19 matches in her freshman campaign and another 14 in her sophomore season. However, after the completion of her sophomore season, Ruder was informed of the school’s decision to drop its occupational therapy program, leaving Ruder with the tough decision to look for a different program at San José State or seek out a different school.
That’s when fate intervened for the Colorado Springs native.
Near the end of her sophomore year, Colorado State announced that it would be starting a Division I soccer program to compete in the Mountain West. Colorado State also featured a highly-regarded occupational therapy program and just so happened to have hired a head coach that Ruder had already had history with.
“I was really interested in CSU for its occupational therapy program, and started to look at CSU more closely when it got a soccer a soccer program,” Ruder recalled. “I had always loved Fort Collins and I already had some history with (CSU head coach) Bill (Hempen); he had been my coach for my ODP (Olympic Development Program) team.”
Colorado State offered Ruder the chance to continue both her playing career and allowed her to pursue her passion academically in occupational therapy, all while being closer to her family. Although originally apprehensive about starting a brand-new program and leaving her established friendships back in San Jose, Ruder’s worries quickly dissipated within the first week of arriving on Colorado State’s campus.
“Coming here, I immediately started to play with my best friend, Jessica Stauffer,” Ruder said. “I had also played with Jami (Vaughn), so I knew some of the girls. It was way easier than I thought it would be, and it’s been wonderful having my family come to every single game.”
As one of just a handful of players with previous Division I experience, Ruder immediately stepped into a leadership role for the brand-new program. As a junior at the time, Ruder also was immediately one of the team’s oldest players and one of the few upperclassmen on the squad.
“It was weird not having upperclassmen there, but it was a great opportunity,” Ruder said. “We had to start our own traditions because we didn’t have any of them.”
The Rams took their fair share of bumps and bruises in their inaugural season, as any first-year program would. Colorado State finished its first season with a 2-13-3 record on the year, but quickly looked to stock up in talent in its first official full recruiting cycle.
Heading into its 2014 season, Colorado State brought in a total of 17 new players, consisting of freshmen, junior college transfers and Division I transfers.
In its second year, Ruder believes that she has seen the program develop exponentially both on and off the field, citing that the skill level and passion are already so much higher. Ruder has certainly been a catalyst for that, leading the team this year in both shots and shots on goal as a defender.
For Ruder though, it’s her actions on and off the field that are more important to her, not the results or the statistics she has compiled. Known for her bubbly personality and optimistic attitude, Ruder hopes that these are some of the traits that stick with her teammates.
“I guess I really hope that I left a positive attitude,” Ruder said. “I hope I’m remembered as a positive person that helped out. Even through hard times, there are positive people.”
As one of three seniors on the team, Ruder has played a huge part in shepherding in this enormous transition for Colorado State. For the Colorado Springs native, seeing a sense of pride develop and grow with each of the girls on the team is something that she is happiest about as she reflects on her collegiate career.
After graduating, Ruder plans on doing some volunteer work and taking a year off, perhaps to play overseas a little bit, before looking at applying for graduate school. First though, Ruder has three more matches in her already accomplished career to focus on, including a final home match on Sunday vs. San Diego State.
The senior has been so focused on finishing the 2014 season strong, that she admits she hasn’t truly had time to reflect on her legacy as part of the first senior class in school history.
“When you put it like that, I guess it does sound pretty awesome,” Ruder said. “It will be a cool thing to tell your family and your kids. Hopefully in 10 years, I’ll get to come back here and talk to some of the girls and hear about the traditions that I helped start.”
