If Ella Richards had her way, every time she scored Newton Soccer Field would be blaring "Pink Pony Club" by Chapell Roan. The senior laughs, adding that that's her favorite song at the moment, but maybe not of all time so there might be a different answer. But for now, that's the answer she's going with.
Brimming with energy despite having recently gotten back from a road trip, Richards is quick to laugh and dive deep in specifics--whether that be the tactics behind how she reads space or which of her teammates her style is inspired by (Ava McNeil has "the best style," followed by Emily Sapienza.)
Boston College wasn't exactly a date with destiny, although the East Coast was for the Illinois native. "I had this weird feeling that I wanted to go East Coast," Richards admits, talking about her recruiting process which was impacted by COVID.
"I wanted to find a school that I loved in a location that I loved," she asserts.
Richards took a chance with BC, knowing that because of how late she committed in the process, she would have to wait till after her freshman season for scholarship money. She laughs, "Now, I'm happy with everything and how it's going."
Once an Eagle, Richards broke out, scoring eight goals her freshman season. While it was hard for opposing defenses to keep tabs on her, it wasn't hard for Eagles' fans: look for where there was space on the field and you'd find Richards's distinctive pre-wrap and ever-changing hair.
Finding space and utilizing that space to create even more room for her teammates is one of Richards's gifts as a soccer player. As much as she loves finding the back of the net, she shared that she loves to pass and find through balls. Her passing vision adds creativity to her game and is one of the strongest tools in her toolkit.
Although it's hard to describe since it all goes on in her head, Richards attempted to explain how she creates the space necessary to execute her hold-up play.
"I love to be behind the shoulder of a defender," she starts before adding that it's important to "change your pace" as you enter that space. She's tried to work on changing her pace, though sometimes it's about rushing into open space and quickly rushing out if it's not there.
Since it's not all about making the run behind the center backs for Richards, who likes to free up her teammates by checking back, she also looks to see what the space is like between the center back and the outside back. Richards loves to check in there because she knows they're so focused on the ball that there's gonna be somewhere for her to sneak in.
Despite loving to pass, Richards is still a goal scorer, and learning when to shoot veruss when to pass is something that she's had to develop over the past four years. "Once you get into ACC play, all your time on the ball diminishes," Richards points out. Sometimes, when to pass or when to shoot comes down to a player going with their gut.
"I've tried to shoot more because that's what our team needs, in order to take some pressure off our backline," said Richards.
Often, the decision to pass or shoot comes down to a couple seconds to make a decision. Richards trusts her gut and does less thinking now when it comes to playing the ball. Taking a chance at a goal is what the backline needs and Richards's gut instinct also comes from scouting the opposing team and their goalkeeper. Knowing who to take on one-on-one and which goalkeepers give up rebounds helps to make the split-second decision to pass or shoot.
Nowadays, you'll still find Richards in space, usually trying to feed a pass to Sydney Segalla ("She's one of my favorite people to play passes to because it doesn't really matter the weight, she'll find a way to get to it") and usually wearing green pre-wrap. The pre-wrap isn't superstitious for Richards but it is for one of her teammates so they all have to wear the same color.
Her hairstyle depends on the weather, with Richards sharing with a laugh that she doesn't like it touching her neck if it's really hot. If her teammate Jordan Teguis is around to braid, Richards will always take her up on it or will steal ideas from the cool hairstyles her other teammates have.
If Richards isn't playing the exact same role, it's also not the exact Boston College or ACC that it was when she was a freshman. The ACC now includes Cal, SMU, and Stanford, making an already loaded conference even more difficult to compete in.
"I'm lucky, right now, that we haven't had to do too much travel to the West Coast," Richards offers, acknowledging the toll a weekend trip to California can take. But, she was "excited" that BC played SMU because her dad's side is from Dallas, so she was able to see all of them on the road trip.
Richards is also finishing her time as an Eagle with a new head coach. Chris Watkins took over the program in January 2024 and has shifted the emphasis of the program to effort and how far that can go, Richards notes.
"They're all very kind but they know what it takes to win," she states. "I feel like they believe in you a lot more than sometimes you may believe in yourself," Richards admits, "we're still learning together."
Injecting that mentality into the program fits nicely with Richards' personal goal for the season: leave her own mark on soccer.
"I want to create more memories with my teammates," she says first before laughing and adding that she "obviously wants to score a lot of goals." She's serious when she goes back to add, "We all, our senior class, especially me too, played a role in helping to change the culture, the winning culture here so that in the future Boston College can become an even better program."
Spotlighting her teammates is a consistent thread in Richards' interview. As is her ability to find moments of joy in every single experience. Those two things are connected since Richards describes the most surprising thing over the past three years as how she's still found ways to enjoy every moment of the journey, which comes from her teammates. Richards points out there's a lot that people can worry about when it comes to soccer but not her.
"The friendships I've developed over the past three years have surprised me and I'm so excited to have them for the rest of my life," said Richards.
She's learned a lot from her teammates over the past four years but doesn't hesitate to declare that the most important thing she's learned is how to move past mistakes. "My teammates are the first to pick you back up and tell you 'the next one, the next one," Richards offers.
She's the first to admit that she thinks about her mistakes on the field, but has relied on her teammates to help show her to move past the shots that everyone misses and make the next play.
But beyond just the soccer, Richards makes the time to relax and enjoy walking the reservoir near Boston College with her teammates. She easily admits that it's difficult to stay grounded in a hectic season, but finding those opportunities with her teammates and seeing them outside of soccer, always really grounds her. While Richards clearly loves soccer, it's when her friendships step outside of soccer that the senior feels most grounded.
Richards immediately points to their bench when asked to describe one thing that really exemplifies their team culture. If you've been to an Eagles game or watched on TV, you know the bench never sits down during a game. "Everyone is so ready for you to score, so ready to cheer," the senior promises.
Richards cherishes the memory of Ava Lung scoring two goals against Notre Dame. "That was the most fun I've had," Richards asserts, "everyone believes you're capable of doing that, even before the game."
It's that readiness to cheer and belief from the bench that they will be cheering that speaks to the deeper belief the team has in each other. "That belief is the core of our team culture," Richards declares.
And it's been a consistent belief that has narrated Richards' journey from a freshman fighting to prove she deserved scholarship money to now being an established presence in the ACC. When asked what about her can't be calculated, it doesn't take long for Richards to settle on her goofiness.
"I'm really silly," she admits, "that's something that before games can bring down the seriousness of it." Her jokes pre-game, her ability to offer her teammates a break from the stress of big games, and her energy on the sideline hypes the team up. "I'm always on the bench screaming for someone to score," she laughs.
For Richards, these past four years have been about the good: finding the creativity, joy, and space to grow in admittedly, sometimes difficult situations. As immovable as Richards is on the ball, she's perhaps more immoveable off it, certain in who she is, what she's learned from the past four years, and what she wants from this final season. Her knack for finding space and her incalculable energy means that, in soccer and in life, Richards will be hearing her goal song more often than not.
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