Bell Signs To Play Soccer At Fontbonne

Adrian Bell was one of many student-athletes across Missouri who never got a chance to finish her high school sports career.

However, Bell, the Lady Eagles’ goalkeeper during her sophomore and junior seasons, will get an opportunity at the collegiate level.

She signed to play women’s soccer at Fontbonne University in St. Louis.

Bell cried at the initial shock over her senior season ending, but she got over it.

“I got to play indoor soccer before the season, so I wasn’t as beat up,” she said. 

Bell was using the indoor season as preparation for her senior year. 

When she arrives at Fontbonne, she hopes to play between the pipes.

“Hopefully goalkeeper,” said Bell when asked where she prefers to play. “That’s what I signed on for, but (head coach Dylan Cassidy) has taken players and made them field.”

Bell said she had played soccer since she was 5-years-old and moved to goalkeeper around 13.

“One of my coaches in a town league put me there because the boy didn’t want to do it anymore,” she said, recalling how she wound up at keeper. “I stayed with it and had proper coaching from a previous coach in Sullivan.”

Bell said there is a certain thrill in being a goalkeeper.

“There’s something about stopping a ball from going in that’s so exciting to me,” she said.

Bell was considering two other colleges, including East Central and a school up in Wisconsin. She talked to the coach there for a couple of weeks, considered a visit, but didn’t go.

She met with Cassidy at Fontbonne and liked what he had to say about the team and the campus.

Bell is looking to become a psychology major and use that for counseling.

“My biggest inspiration was Matt Wiegers,” she said of Sullivan’s assistant, who also serves as a guidance counselor. “He helped me through some stuff, and I want to help people, too.”

Bell said her best memory on the field was every game played with former teammates Maddie Brauninger and Maddie Hines, who graduated in 2019.

“They’re just great people,” she said. “They made it fun even if we won or lost.”

The disappointment of her soccer season ending was made up for by an enjoyable senior volleyball season. Bell played for three seasons and was part of two district championship teams.

“I had lots of fun,” she said. “I got to win districts with them and formed a bond with a bunch of the girls.