Ruth Kay Harker (born June 28, 1963) is an American former soccer player who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

, making three appearances for the United States women's national team.

Career

Harker began playing soccer at 14, initially as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

before moving into goal. She was quickly noticed by coaches, earning her overseas training sessions in Sweden in Finland. Harker attended high school at

Pattonville Pattonville is a neighborhood in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, northeast of Stuttgart, with the unusual distinction of being a former United States military housing complex, as few U.S. installations returned to German control have been maintaine ...

and later Parkway North, where she participated in

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

cross country running Cross country running is a sport in which teams and individuals run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain such as dirt or grass. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open cou ...

, and

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

, in addition to soccer. She played for the UMSL Riverwomenh in college from 1982 to 1985, and was selected in the All-Region team in all four seasons, as well as the All-West first team. She was the team captain as a senior in 1985, and won the team's most valuable player award that season. Harker is the school's all-time leader in shutouts (38), and ranks third in career goals-against average (0.75) and fourth in career saves (255). She also holds the top two records for shutouts in a single season at the school, with 12 in 1982 and 11 in 1985. After reaching the semi-finals of the

USASA National Women's Amateur The USASA National Women's Amateur is an American women's soccer tournament run by the United States Adult Soccer Association. It began in 1980 and was the top-level national tournament for women's soccer in the United States until the formation o ...

with the Busch Soccer Dome club team in 1984 and 1985, Harker was invited to the 1985 U.S. Olympic Festival. She was chosen as one of the most valuable players at the Olympic Festival, and was selected to play in the first matches of the United States women's national team. She made her international debut for the U.S. on August 21, 1985, at the Mundialito against

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, coming on as a substitute for Kim Wyant. She earned her second cap two days later against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Her final appearance came August 24 in a rematch against Denmark. In 2014, Harker's 1981 and 1982 women's soccer teams were inducted into the UMSL Sports Hall of Fame. In 2019, she was inducted into the St. Louis Soccer Hall of Fame. Harker herself was inducted into the UMSL Sports Hall of Fame in 2020.

Personal life

Harker was raised in

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

and has been blind in her left eye since birth. She works as the vice president and director of technical support at Swan Packaging in St. Louis, and has two children.

Career statistics

International

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harker, Ruth 1963 births Living people Soccer players from St. Louis American women's soccer players United States women's international soccer players Women's association football goalkeepers UMSL Tritons women's soccer players Sportspeople with a vision impairment American blind people 21st-century American women