Senior Stories: Beerworth Found Her (Closer) Home at MSU

By Hunter Davies, special to MSUSpartans.com

Senior soccer player Sofia Beerworth has found herself a home at Michigan State through cultural connections and a strong relationship with her family in Montreal.

Beerworth started at New Mexico State to play soccer for a good program, but after one year, she was ready to come closer to home. Her parents, because of this move, have been able to make it to more soccer games since she has been at MSU. They have had the opportunity to attend several games in each of the last three seasons, instead of having to fly to New Mexico, which limited in-person games.

"I got really homesick because it's almost 3,000 kilometers away from home. I missed seeing my family and their ability to come to support me at games, that's what pushed me to enter the transfer portal," Beerworth said. "I was looking for an institution that would challenge me more academically and athletically as well."

MSU has been able to test Beerworth, as her teammates push her and others on the team to be the best through physical and mental practices. She also said her professors make it tougher academically by challenging her in the classroom with intense coursework.

Beerworth is a civil engineering major. She has received multiple accolades over the last two seasons, including Big Ten Distinguished Scholar, Academic All-Big Ten, and CSC Academic All-District. Over the last two seasons, she has missed a few games with injury, but has played in 43 games and started 36. She plays on MSU's back line (defense), but has still managed contribute two goals and nine assists over her last two years .

Sofia Beerworth

Beerworth is bilingual due to her upbringing in Montreal, speaking French and English fluently. She speaks in French when having conversations with her family, and has met people at MSU who speak French that have helped her settle in.

"On FaceTime with my parents, they speak in French to me because they don't want me to lose my French since I don't speak it here as often compared to everyday life back at home," Beerworth noted. "I've had a professor who was from where I'm from, and we'd speak after class sometimes, especially if I had to say I was missing class for soccer, and she'd be super understanding.

"So that was really nice to have."

More Canadians have joined the Spartans since Beerworth's transfer. According to MSU Head Coach Jeff Hosler, the future recruiting class is bringing in more recruits from Canada. Hosler has also had at least one player drafted or signed to the NWSL in his first four years as coach.

He enjoys Beerworth's trivia knowledge she brings to the table and having a different cultural perspective on the team.

Beerworth, Sofia

"You can always count on 'Beers' for a little witty nugget of information that you wouldn't expect. She's one of those kids that you feel like you can ask her any arbitrary or random trivia thing and she has the answer for you," Hosler said. "Honestly, we talk about the Canadian piece; she brings Canadian culture and buzzwords into the group.

"And we get a lot of laughs out of that."

Having these Canadian players on the team has also helped Beerworth since arriving at MSU. She has bonded with her teammates over different kinds of cultural things, such as candy, music, and food.

Being able to make these connections has made her feel right at home since joining the team.

"It's just like cultural things, we'll understand, oh, your favorite food we have that at home that we don't have here, certain chocolates, candies, desserts, certain stuff we bond over," Beerworth said. "We have specific chocolates like Aero or Smarties that we call it at home, but it's an M&M type thing, it's cool, it gets us closer and makes us better friends."

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