Her net worth? A lot
Ducar's homecoming a break for Boston
April 25, 2001
By Susan Bickelhaupt
When Tracy Ducar was at North Andover High 14 years ago, she was a star goalkeeper on the soccer team and still holds the school record with 33 career shutouts.
Ducar was also an honors student who graduated fifth in her class.
So when she was accepted to the University of North Carolina, Connecticut, Harvard, and Dartmouth, the choice of where to go to college seemed like a no-brainer. Who could turn down an Ivy League education?
''At the time, my question to her was, `Do you want to go to school in the city or country? Harvard or Dartmouth?''' said North Andover athletic director Jack Stephenson.
Her coach, Kevin McCarthy, also weighed in.
If she went to 17-time national champion North Carolina, McCarthy told her, she might not see much playing time. But at Dartmouth, he told her, ''I can almost guarantee that you'll be a star there.''
Ducar listened, but felt playing at Harvard or Dartmouth would not be as much of a challenge.
So she headed to North Carolina without a scholarship. And McCarthy was right - she wasn't treated like a star, and it took until her senior season to see much playing time.
But after graduation, Ducar, 27, was named to the national team and was one of two backup goalies on the 1999 Women's World Cup championship team. She's now the starting goalkeeper for the Boston Breakers of the Women's United Soccer Association.
Stephenson doesn't mind having to eat his words.
''Right now I'd say it's the best thing she ever did,'' he said.
Fully focused
Ducar is still rooted in Durham, N.C., where she lives with her husband Chris, who is the goaltending coach at North Carolina. But playing in Boston, and not for the Carolina Courage, whom the Breakers defeated in their inaugural game last week, has its advantages.
''Obviously, I'd like to sleep in my own bed,'' said Ducar, who rents an apartment in Wellesley, not far from where the Breakers train at Babson College. ''But I know that if I were at home, after practice I'd be doing yard work, I'd be paying bills, I'd be doing things that I really shouldn't be doing. I come home and I get full rest, full recovery, so I'm 100 percent at the task at hand, which is playing soccer. That's what I'm here to do. So I'm just a little more focused here.
''It would be an easy transition for me, since my family and friends are here, and it was the area I'm familiar with.''
Ducar started playing soccer at 6 years old, then branched out.
''Pretty much any sport you could name, I tried it,'' she said. ''Horseback riding, basketball, figure skating, karate ... my parents were always shipping me off to all these different sports and activities at the Y.''
But when the activities started to conflict, she had to narrow her choices.
''I stuck with soccer because all my friends were doing it and I really liked it,'' Ducar said. ''I don't remember it being a tough decision. It was something I wanted to do.''
She also had to make another choice - she liked playing both forward and goalie, but had to settle on one. So before she entered the eighth grade, a friend recommended a soccer camp at Brandeis that was just for goalkeepers. But her friend warned that the camp would be very intense, and that she would be one of the youngest there.
''So I figured if I liked the camp, I'd know I was going to be a goalkeeper, and if I couldn't handle it, I should focus on being a forward,'' Ducar said.
''I went and I loved it. I just really enjoyed the challenge of it, both physically and mentally.''
Ducar made the North Andover varsity as a freshman and made the Cape Ann League all-star team.
''She was more than decent,'' said McCarthy. ''I figured I was set for the next four years.''
Walk-on wonder
In her sophomore year, Ducar hurt her back while playing basketball and surgery sidelined her for a year.
''Truthfully, I didn't think she'd play again after that,'' McCarthy said. ''But she said she needed to have the operation if she wanted to pursue what she wanted to do. She is the most driven player I've ever had.''
So it really was no surprise when Ducar was accepted early admission to North Carolina.
She wasn't even recruited, but Tar Heels coach Anson Dorrance invited her to join the team as a walk-on.
Ducar decided to sit out her freshman year as a medical redshirt.
''There were already two goalkeepers on the team, so I figured, why waste my eligibility?'' she said.
She came back ready to challenge for the starting role, but found herself stuck on the bench.
''I had a hard time dealing with it, because in the back of my head I thought I was better,'' Ducar said. ''You come from always being the star, and playing all the time, on your high school team, on the state team, then you get into this environment where you're not the best. And you have to get used to that and make some adjustments in your mentality and get better. You either rise to the level, or you fumble.''
So the summer before her junior season, Ducar visited a sports psychologist in Philadelphia.
''I had to just look at what I could control, and not worry about the other goalkeeper,'' she said of the advice.
It worked.
''I started playing great, and with much more consistency,'' said Ducar, who soon began splitting starting duty. By the postseason, she was the full-time starter, and backstopped the Tar Heels to the 1994 national championship.
Ducar got most of the playing time her senior year, although she had to make room for freshman Siri Mullinix, who is now on the Washington Freedom in the WUSA.
Her national team experience was also spotty. She was one of two backups to veteran Brianna Scurry, but Ducar started three matches in 1999. Last year, though, Ducar was dropped from the team when a new coach took over.
''It was hard initially, very hard, but in retrospect, very good for me,'' she said, ''because I got time at home, and Chris and I finally took our honeymoon.''
''And now it's not as big of a deal that I was cut because I have a league to play in.
Just like it wasn't a big deal when she spurned the Ivy League 10 years ago.