Collegiate and professional sports fans can often forget how high-level and competitive the top players are. Even players on smaller Division I teams were likely still the best player in their town, county, and one of the best in their state. So, how do you cope with going from being an award-winning starter on one of the best high school teams in the country to playing zero minutes on a team with NCAA playoff aspirations?

If you're unsure, you should probably ask junior defender Sonoma Adams. Adams played at St. Anthony's High School in Huntington, New York, a catholic powerhouse that was one of the best in the country at the time. Rather than try to play at a Power Four school or get tons of minutes at a low or mid-major, Adams prioritized the academics and team culture at Dartmouth.

"Everyone you meet is just so kind and so willing to help you, whether it's the alumni network or just people on campus, even just people's parents," said Adams.

On one preseason move-in day, random helpers and good samaritans happily helped a freshman Adams move in. New Hampshire has made a friendly home since.

Upperclassman Guidance

Adjusting to college soccer requires upperclassmen as shepherds, and Adams relied on those connections early in her career.

During Adams' first year, senior Ali Winstanley helped guide her.

"She took a role model approach with me and like I constantly look up to her. I still look up to her," said Adams. "She was our captain that year, but she was more of an I'll show you the way to do it, opposed to a talking and communicating type leader."

The early support from Winstanley, combined with Dartmouth's highly united culture, carried Sonoma through her first two years. Now, as a junior, Sonoma's own leadership took a step forward. In late 2022, head coach Taylor Schram arrived on campus and built a strong culture with Adams' help. Schram affectionately calls Adams "Sonni."

"My focus was just on unlocking that sort of authenticity within the group and making sure that everybody, each individual player on our team, felt like they had value and felt like they had a major voice. I think Sonni's a really good example of that," said Schram.

Becoming a leader

Adams has made ten game appearances through her first two seasons but remains a key cog in the pipeline of talent that Schram is building.

"She's a player that holds tremendous value on our roster because of the person that she is, because of the teammate that she is, and the example that she sets kind of on and off the field and how she approaches her business every day," Schram complimented. "She does it in a way where she's constantly aspiring to be better than yesterday, but she also does it in a way that's still inviting and collaborative with others."

When questioned on personal goals, Adams pointed to teamwide conditioning challenges as a target, in addition to improving pass completion percentages. However, Sonoma Adam's biggest focus was how to help her team achieve their goals.

"Our big season goals obviously make it to the NCAAs. But how do we do that first?" asked Schram. "We have to get to the Ivy tournament. To get to the Ivy tournament, we have to win these specific games. So it's all little goals leading up to your big goals."

Adam's attitude toward supporting her teammates partly comes from her older sister. Samantha. Samantha played soccer at Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Sonoma Adams now tries to remind those around her that soccer is all about the next moment.

"The way to get better is to make mistakes. So kind of just relaying that and just moving past it. Your next three seconds are what matters," she added.

Adams is simply a rare gem. The kind of cultural figure that's effective in any career.

"I don't think you come across players like Sonni all that often, especially in this day where there's so much rooted in like Me and what's my role? What can I get out of this? How much money can I make now in college sports and all the different things? And it's really rare to come across a player that really is just WE first. And that's what I can't articulate enough about Sonni. And again, it's with this mature lens of understanding. 'I see where my role is at, and I'm not fixated on my role as a means of like minutes played is grander than that, and I know that my value can be added in a bigger way," Schram complimented.

It's a glowing review for Adams.