After four unforgettable years on the Shadow Ridge High School Varsity Soccer Team, senior Harmony Taylor has officially committed to Sacramento State, where she will continue both her academic and athletic career. A four‑year varsity athlete, Taylor has become one of the most respected leaders on campus, known for her discipline, resilience, and lifelong connection to the sport.
Soccer has always been woven into Taylor’s life, long before she ever stepped onto the Shadow Ridge field. Taylor stated how deeply rooted the sport is in her family.
“What first got me interested in soccer was that all of my family has played,” she said. “My aunts played. My mom played. My grandma even played, so I just kind of followed in their footsteps. I feel like from the beginning the passion was always there, but I definitely think it grew by those around me helping me learn and just having a love for the game.”
Taylor’s journey took a major turn when she was pulled up to varsity as a freshman, an experience that shaped her identity as both a player and a leader. She reflected on how being the youngest on the team pushed her to grow.
“Being young on varsity all four years shaped me mostly as a leader,” she said. She explained that watching older players taught her what strong leadership looked like. “I was able to apply that to the three other years of my high school career,” she added. Learning to support teammates with different personalities and needs became one of her biggest strengths.
Her path was not without obstacles. Taylor recently recovered from an MCL sprain, an injury that temporarily slowed her recruiting process and challenged her mentally.
“If I hadn’t sprained my MCL, I probably would have been committed in February,” she said. But instead of letting the injury define her, she used it as a moment of growth. “It forced me to figure out who I am as a person outside of soccer and it helped me reshape my love for soccer in a positive way.”
When looking back on her high school career, one game stands out above all the rest.
“We played Gorman in the first round of playoffs and words can’t even describe the things that were going through my mind,” she said. With crowds from other schools gathering around the field, “it felt like a stadium.” Shadow Ridge went on to win in penalty kicks after overtime, a memory she says she will never forget.
Taylor also credits her teammates for shaping her into the player she is today.
“They taught me how to have a love for the game, how to try hard all the time, how to lift others up,” she said. Watching her teammates commit to college programs inspired her to follow the same path. “I always saw all of my other high school teammates go on to commit to colleges and play soccer in college and I always knew that was what I wanted to do.”
Now, as she prepares to join Sacramento State, Taylor feels a mix of excitement and nerves. She is looking forward to the environment she will be stepping into.
“I’m most excited about the Titan community of girls,” she said. “The girls you are going to play with in college are going to be your family because you are going to be around them all the time. I’m nervous about other girls being faster, stronger, having more experience,” she said. “I’m going to be playing against girls who could be 23 years old.”
Despite the challenges ahead, Taylor is ready. With her leadership, determination, and lifelong passion for soccer, Sacramento State is gaining not just a talented athlete but a driven competitor who knows how to rise to every moment.
