Huettner embodies what it means to be a coyote

The 2020-21 season has been nothing short of unusual and with unusual times comes unusual rules. Like the NCAA granting student-athletes affected by the cancellation/postponements of seasons an extra year of eligibility. 

For some student-athletes that gives them an opportunity to earn a master’s degree while still playing the sport they love and for others it throws a curve ball in their academic plans. Senior Sunny Huettner is one of four seniors on this year’s soccer squad but will be the only one hanging her cleats up in April when the season is over. 

The decision to not take her fifth year was a hard one to make after playing the sport for most of her life, but the injuries she has delt with over the years along with grad school she made the decision to hang it up. 

“My body is just not good anymore,” Huettner said. “I know I am making the right decision and with grad school it just was not possible to do both at the same time so that was the biggest decision. I’ve only played like half of the seasons that other senior have played because of injuries and so my body is just feeling those every single days and my body has basically said no.”

However, she is not letting a pandemic or her last few months in a Coyote uniform stopping her from taking the unusual season in. After the postponement of the fall season to the spring season, the Yotes were still able to practice throughout the fall. 

“It was definitely different just strictly practicing during the fall instead of playing our normal season,” Huettner said. “But Michael implemented ‘game days’ on Wednesdays and Fridays where we would have teams and scrimmage for roughly a half of a normal game. It was fun to compete, and I think we have rolled with the punches and have been competing with the other teams well so far.”

And compete they have this season, the Yotes took the preseason favorites, Denver, down to the wire in both of their games this past weekend. After scoring 10 goals in the previous four games the Pioneers played, the Yotes held them to three goals total in the two-game series with both goals coming late in the game. In the first conference games of the season, USD recorded seven goals and completed a 5-0 shutout to split the series with Kansas City.

In a “normal” season, South Dakota has roughly 10 non-conference games and only one game against conference opponents. This season however, the Yotes will play conference opponents twice in the same location on the same weekend. Huettner thinks USD can use that to their advantage this season. 

“I think it’s definitely an advantage being able to play each team twice,” Huettner said. “You get a taste on Friday of how they play and what they’re going to do when they play us. You get to see what they are going to do to strategize to be able to play us twice in the same weekend. 

“Unfortunately, we have lost both Friday’s we have played but being able to have that Saturday practice to be able to adjust differently to what they did the day before and make those changes on Sunday has definitely helped a lot.” 

When asked if the pandemic made her senior season difficult, Huettner said that it stinks they weren’t able to do regular things like team bonding activities, but you just have to control what you can control and make the best out of what you are given. 

Head coach Michael Thomas is in his third season at the helm of the Coyotes which means he didn’t recruit Huettner but has said she is an exceptional student-athlete, and it has been an honor to be her coach the past three seasons. 

After being recruited by the previous coaching staff, Huettner came for visits and camps and said it just felt like a second home. 

“Mandy and Josh saw me playing in a showcase in Arizona and reached out to my club coach,” Huettner said. “So, they invited me to their camp that USD hosts every summer and eventually I got offered to play here. I got a good feel of the campus, a good feel of the town when I was at the camp and that was a huge factor into my decision to want to come here. The girls on the team were super nice and it just felt like a family.”

Those first feelings and expectations she had during her visits hasn’t changed in her four years in Vermillion. It is still a family atmosphere and a second home. 

“My expectations have been exceeded,” Huettner said. “I really didn’t know what to expect because I didn’t have any older friends that played college soccer, so I was kind of coming in blindly. But it’s definitely been everything that I thought it would be and hoped for. I wouldn’t trade my time here at USD for anything.” 

Speaking of family, Huettner’s mom and stepdad with be in attendance for senior weekend. The ability to play close to home and have her parents come to the games the past four years has been everything for Huettner.

With two weekends down, the Yotes sit at 1-3 in league play with seven more weekends of action with four of those weekends in Vermillion at the First Bank & Trust Complex. At the end of the season, Huettner hopes to make an impact on the team and to be in the conference tournament after barely missing out on it the past few seasons. 

“I think making the tournament would be an awesome way to end my career after coming so close the past two seasons,” Huettner said. “I know we are good enough to make it and it would be awesome to finally make it.”

Leaving an impact and leaving it all on the field is all Huettner can ask for these next few weeks as a USD student-athlete. 

The one thing Huettner would tell incoming recruits or high schoolers is to not take the moment for granted because as we have seen in the past year things can be taken away at a moment’s notice. 

“I would say don’t take a moment for granted,” Huettner said. “You think that you have four years and that is a long time, but it goes by incredibly fast. Even though the season and classes are such a grind just embrace all of it because it’s going to be gone one day. Believe in yourself and say, ‘I can do this” because you will have an amazing support system with the coaches, academic advisors, teammates and the community.” 

After four seasons in Vermillion, being a part of the community and having a second family, the one thing Huettner will miss above all else will be spending the summers in Vermillion and building relationships with her teammates.