A strength and conditioning coach was showing the women's soccer team around the weight room during its first off-season workout. That's when Julie Thompson, then a sophomore, cast a curious glance at a hamstring curl machine. She presumed to know how to use it — it looked simple enough.

"I thought it was for your arms, and I pushed it down with my arms, and it wasn't working," Thompson said.

Her teammates roared with laughter at her rare case of athletic incoordination. Senior midfielder Sarah Uyenishi still recalls Thompson's perplexed response: "I had no idea."

Embarrassing moments like these have strengthened Thompson's bond with her teammates in her years at Marquette. Now a senior, she has helped lead the No. 12 Golden Eagles to a 16-2-1 regular season record, and her personal growth has been as fascinating as her development on the field.

"She's changed so much since coming to Marquette," said Uyenishi, who has played with Thompson for the Eclipse Select club team since they were 14 years old.

"She used to be a lot quieter. She never used to talk to anyone…. She's grown up a lot. Just being a part of the team allows her to open up."

Sometimes being part of the team has forced her to open up. During bus rides in between weekend away matches, the players often take turns in mandatory dance contests, Thompson said.

"You always start by saying you're going to do homework," she said. "Then it turns into some comedy show…. I've never had friends like this before. We have so much fun."

As far as laughs go, the soft-spoken Thompson contains a few tricks up her sleeve, according to senior Lindsay Michuda, who has paired with Thompson in the center of Marquette's midfield the past two seasons.

"She's got a very sarcastic sense of humor," Michuda said. "She's very quiet, and then she'll say something that will catch you by surprise."

Just as unpredictable as her sense of humor is her ability to create scoring chances during what seem to be lulls in the game with her vision and long-range shooting prowess. Both Notre Dame and Northwestern can attest to that.

"At any point in time she can surprise you with something in the game," said head coach Markus Roeders. "She has a knack of doing things others can't…. We've always been able to rely on her."

Thompson's soccer skills stem from her feisty competitiveness as a youth with her two older brothers.

"I was always trying to keep up with my brothers," Thompson said. "And I always lost, and I always cried when I lost."

The tears paid off: her brothers, including Andy, who played at Penn State from 1996 to 2000, helped to make a fine soccer player out of her.

"Boys are stronger and faster, so I always had to be more skilled than they were," Thompson said.

She has scored 11 goals and recorded 15 assists during her four-year career. But her presence on the team has meant more than just numbers.

Thompson wanted to come to a place where she could be happy outside of the soccer environment, and she sensed a family atmosphere within the team during her campus visit.

"I liked how the coaches at Marquette treated you more than just a soccer player," Thompson said.

A history major with a concentration in 20th century U.S. history, she wants to teach at a high school after college. Thompson and her teammates can make their own history if they build off their success for a postseason run.

When the dream season reaches an end, though, she'll be fortunate to have her teammates at her side. Teammates who, cognizant of her obsession with pickles, will buy her nine jars of the vegetable for her birthday. Teammates who will console her if she happens to shed a tear.

This article was published in The Marquette Tribune on October 27, 2005.