GODFREY – Angie Bode-Parsons almost didn’t play soccer in college – but with a little prodding from Lewis and Clark Community College Soccer Coach Tim Rooney, she joined the Trailblazers in 1998 and set down a path that would eventually lead her into the National Junior College Athletic Association Hall of Fame.
“I wouldn’t have had my college career without Rooney,” she said. “I got a little burned out and wasn’t going to play, but he kept pursuing me.”
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Bode-Parsons was inducted into the NJCAA Hall of Fame in front of her former coach, and with the support of the 2017 Trailblazers, Sunday, Nov. 12, in Melbourne, Florida.
“When I got the call from Rooney that I had been nominated, I was shocked,” said Bode-Parsons, of Hazelwood, Missouri. “I didn’t think that it would ever actually be possible, but I’m very grateful.”
Bode-Parsons played for L&C during the 1998 and 1999 seasons, and was named an NJCAA All American both years. In 1999, when the women’s team clinched the NJCAA National Championship in Baltimore, Maryland, Bode-Parsons was named tournament MVP. She was also the Region 24 MVP that year, and was named First Team All American and National Player of the Year for the National Soccer Coaches Association of America. In 2000, she was named to the NJCAA All-Century team, and joined the Lewis and Clark Community College Hall of Fame in 2006.
“I feel like I wouldn’t have done it without my teammates for sure,” she said. “We had a great group of girls playing at Lewis and Clark. The year we won nationals, the whole team worked so hard together to get as far as we did; I wouldn’t have been able to do any of it without them.”
Bode-Parsons started playing soccer at the age of 6, and played for the Missouri State Olympic Development team, Busch and JB Marine Soccer clubs. She also played at Francis Howell North, where she scored the winning goal at the state championship game her freshman year.
After L&C, Bode-Parsons played with the Southern Illinois University of Edwardsville Cougars for a year, before an injury ended her athletic career.
Rooney remembers Bode-Parsons for the team leader she was, on and off the field.
“She scored more than 62 goals in two years here,” Rooney said. “She had 41 assists, which is really outstanding. She probably averaged at least a goal a game and an assist a game. She had great speed good team player, a really good leader for us.”
To learn more about L&C Athletics, visit www.lc.edu/athletics.
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