photo by: David Rodish/Journal-World

Free State junior defender Cara Jeffries kicks the ball on a free kick in a 2-2 tie against Olathe North at Free State on Thursday, May 8, 2025, in Lawrence.

Cara Jeffries went to a women’s soccer ID camp at Missouri State this past summer, which featured over 20 different colleges from around the area, including Missouri Western State.

After the camp, Jeffries wanted to talk with Missouri Western State’s coaches, and the coaches wanted to talk with Jeffries.

“They have a pretty good program, great facilities, great coaches, and it’s really close to home for me, so it was definitely like an ideal place for me,” Jeffries said. “They invited me out to a recruiting weekend this past weekend and had me on an unofficial visit. I really love the environment, I love the campus, I love the coaches, the girls, the facilities.”

Jeffries trained with the team and some other recruits and later watched the team play in its 1-0 win over Northern State on Sept. 7. The campus and the environment around the game stood out to Jeffries, leading to her decision to commit.

It’s been a long road for Jeffries, who has had to battle through injuries early in her high school career. She tore her ACL and meniscus, forcing her to miss her freshman club season. After a lot of personal training, Jeffries began to feel like herself the summer before her junior year.

“The mental aspect was definitely the part that I struggled with the most,” Jeffries said. “Being on the sidelines, watching Free State play my freshman year was tough. It’s something that I love so much, and it just got taken away from me so quickly.”

Jeffries bounced back in a big way her junior year and began going to different camps and contacting different coaches. That led her to the Missouri State camp this past summer.

Playing for a team with a winning culture matters to Jeffries, and Missouri Western State has done a lot of winning under head coach Jacob Plocher. The Griffons went 5-8-6 in 2023, which was Plocher’s first season with the team. Then they improved to 16-3-3 the next year and reached the NCAA Tournament.

“It felt great to have a collegiate-level coach believe that you could play at the next level and play with their team and be a part of their culture,” Jeffries said. “Going through all the injury stuff that I had, I could finally take a deep breath and just relax because I knew that I was going to play collegiate soccer.”

Jeffries, who plays center back, has to rely on her ability to communicate in games. Playing defense allows her to see the field and some things her teammates can’t see. Jeffries also relishes the physicality of the position when it comes to winning 50-50 balls or challenging opposing forwards.

“Defense kind of just came natural to me, just like protecting my goal, but also being able to see stuff that maybe my teammates playing in the midfield might not be able to see,” Jeffries said.

The communication skills that Jeffries has built through her soccer career can help her prepare for the competition at the Division II level. Communication can help Jeffries fit in with the Griffons next season and make the jump to college soccer.

It’ll be a new challenge for Jeffries when she does make the jump to collegiate soccer, but it’s one that she’s looking forward to. After years of dreaming of getting to play soccer in college, she’s on her way.

“I’m looking forward to having a group of girls that’s really close and that is together most of every day,” Jeffries said. “I’m excited to have a coaching staff that’s enthusiastic and encouraging, but also can put the hammer down when it’s time to get to work. It’s just a positive environment that I’m excited to be a part of.”

For now, Jeffries has one last year with Free State. For her senior season, she’s hoping to build up her leadership with the team and help lead the Firebirds to another regional championship.

“We’ve lost a lot of seniors who have helped us a lot, and so this year, I just want to step into a leadership role and help my team have a higher work ethic,” Jeffries said. “That way we could win some of the harder games against some better schools and hopefully get another regional championship under our belt.”