Kelby Zendejas
When small-town Kentucky soccer player Channing Foster stepped foot onto the Ole Miss campus in 2017, she instantly fell in love. After moving to Chicago to pursue competitive soccer, overcoming her rare joint disorder and undergoing knee surgery, Foster landed in a sea full of cardinal red and navy blue. Now, in her fourth year on the team, the forward holds four All-SEC titles and a recent second bid to the pros.
Foster’s story starts simply: influenced by an older sibling to become familiar with the game at three years old. From then on, soccer became the main focus of her life, and her parents remained the main source of inspiration.
The young star-in-the-making began playing for teams in Nashville and Chicago during high school until she underwent an osteochondritis dissecans (OCD) lesion and cartilage tear injury that threatened the college recruiting process and put her love for the game on hold.
“I would say that was probably the toughest time in my life,” Foster said. “It taught me a lot and helped my love for the game to grow even more because like they say: you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone. Losing it for a while and not being able to play made me all the more grateful whenever I was able to get back out on the field.”
During her 8-month transition and recovery after surgery, Ole Miss brought Foster to the campus. Two days later, she committed.
“I just fell in love with the place, and it’s been such a blessing ever since,” she said.
In her debut year as a Rebel in 2017, Foster tallied 12 goals and grasped a Second Team All-SEC and All-SEC Freshman honor. The summer before her sophomore year, the Rebel played for the Chicago Red Stars Reserves team where she helped secure a Women’s Professional Soccer League (WPSL) Central Region Championship win. She spoke fondly on her time playing summer ball with the Red Stars.
As a sophomore at Ole Miss, the left-footed scorer netted eight goals during the fall season and was then called to play for the U-23 United States women’s national soccer team where she scored the game-winning goal over the Chicago Red Stars in the 2019 Thorns Spring Invitational.
Foster said the highlight of her time at Ole Miss thus far was when the 2018 squad advanced to the NCAA Tournament Second Round for the fourth time in Ole Miss school history. That same year, Ole Miss alumna CeCe Kizer set the school record for most goals scored to 48.
Adding 10 goals during her junior year and the three from her most recent stint, Foster now sits 15 points away from the all-time goal scorer in school history. However, she said her focus for the future season is geared more toward the team as a whole — adding to the player’s selfless demeanor on and off the field.
In her four years at the university, Foster said the greatest lesson she has learned is the ability to put effort into a team.
“I would say one of the biggest things I’ve learned is buying into a team and learning to work with other people and find people’s strengths,” she said. “Also, I’ve seen how so many different people can come together for a greater goal or a greater purpose, and bring different assets to the table to build off of each other and contribute for the greater good.”
With one more year left of eligibility, Foster is looking forward to leaving a legacy of being a good teammate “that’s going to give it their all every single day and being someone who they know is looking out for them and that will fight regardless of the task set before me.”
Although she is a major force on the offense and a prolific goal-scorer, Foster will leave Ole Miss next year with much more than statistics. Not only does she emit effortless confidence on the field, but the forward also leaves behind traces of unrestricted humility, always placing herself no higher than the teammates that stand alongside her.
