On The Plains with Maddie Prohaska: 'This is the place I became the person that I am'

AUBURN, Ala. — When fifth-year senior Maddie Prohaska first announced she would be playing soccer at Auburn, she received mixed reactions.

“It’s a big difference when you’re from Ohio, that’s Big Ten territory,” she explained. “When I said I was going to Auburn, the first question was: ‘What state is that in?’”

The Westchester, Ohio native always knew she wanted to play soccer thanks to watching her older sister, Abby, experiment with other sports. Maddie chose accordingly. She then navigated her path towards goal keeping when her best friend chose to play as a forward.

“It made sense to be the goalkeeper, so she gets some shots in,” joked Prohaska.

Despite her best friend and sister remaining near home, the eventual 2020 SEC All-Freshman Team member branched outward to begin her collegiate career, forgoing her senior year of high school as she did such. At 17-years-old, Prohaska made the jump down south with the support of her family, teammates and coaches alike.

“I don’t think I really grasped it, looking back now,” she said. “Thinking about our freshmen that are coming in, I can’t believe I even did that.”

Although Prohaska had full support from her loved ones and coahcing staff, moving away from home — not to mention during a nationwide pandemic — is a significant life change for anyone. Such a decision speaks to the mental toughness that the four-time SEC Academic Honor Roll student displays both on and off the field.

She explained the importance of a tough mentality as a goalkeeper — to know how much confidence you require within yourself as well as the confidence your team must put in you to be able to play well.​​

“I think the biggest thing for a goalkeeper is having confidence, sometimes even false confidence,”  said Prohaska. “As long as the people around you believe you’re confident, you’re doing your job.”

Since arriving at Auburn, Prohaska has served as her squad's primary goalkeeper from day one. During her freshman year, she recorded a 0.80 goals-against average, marking the lowest from a Tiger in a single season since 2004. 

Throughout her four years at Auburn, the graduate student has gone the distance in goal in 72 of 76 appearances, including all 20 during her sophomore season. 

But for Prohaska, being a student athlete means so much more than playing the full 90, it involves a great deal of mental health practice, which is something she is passionate to speak on.

“There’s a lot people don’t see — the low moments when you don’t know if you want to play the sport anymore,” she said. “People don’t realize that we’re just kids at the same time.”

As one of the program's veterans, Prohaska had the opportunity to step into a leadership role during the 2023 season, serving as one of four team captains. She explained that her leadership style is about understanding what she stands for and learning her core values, to allow herself to lead others around her, instead of relying on what she believes they need from her. 

Prohaska is set to reprise her role as a captain for the approaching 2024 season. 

“I think anytime that you have a voice, you can utilize that and talk to people,” she said. “That doesn’t mean you’re talking to hundreds or thousands of people, but understanding that if you can just reach the people around you and your community, that’s a big deal.” 

In between her time on the field and in the classroom, Prohaska helps coach young girls at a local soccer club, in what she says allows for the girls without an older sister to have someone to look up to. 

“Knowing that they don’t care how I perform or what the score is... they’re so stoked to get to come up and hug me. To know that I created that excitement in their life, that’s so much bigger than the sport."

Auburn’s record-breaking goalkeeper will have the opportunity to pursue soccer professionally, and eventually coach college soccer to hopefully create the same impact on players that she has felt in her time at Auburn.

“I really do believe this is the place I became the person that I am,” said Prohaska. “I’m really going to miss calling this place home... I think I’ll always call it home.”