Stats via Hastings College Athletics, 2024 and 2025 seasons. 2026 season in progress.
Every striker gets measured the same way. Goals go on the scoresheet, and the scoresheet is what people remember. Madison Rhodes understands that better than most. In two seasons in Hastings College crimson, the forward from Omaha, Nebraska, has scored 20 goals — nine as a freshman, three of them game-winners, and eleven more as a sophomore while starting every match.
Yet when you ask her for the best advice she has ever been given, it has nothing to do with finishing. It is five words: don't put so much pressure on yourself.
It started with “make it, take it”
Rhodes’ first soccer memory goes back to elementary school club practice and a game every young player knows: one-on-one against the keeper. “If you shoot it, you are now the keeper. And then if you miss it, you go to the back of the line,” she remembers.
The decision to play in college came later, in her sophomore year of high school. “I just realized I didn't wanna be done with soccer quite yet,” she says. “So then I decided I wanted to play in college.”
Why Hastings: a coach who had played the same position
When Rhodes talks about how she became a Bronco, she starts with one person: head coach Jade Ovendale. “We hit it off from the start. She was very funny, and she was also a forward as well,” Rhodes says. “She told me that she could basically help me build myself more as a soccer player, and I was hooked.”
Division level never drove the decision. “It wasn't about division. I think it was just honestly about the school itself,” she says of choosing an NAIA program. “I fell in love with the team and the coach and just the culture that they have here.”
“You don’t have to put so much pressure on yourself to succeed. You could have fun and succeed at the same time.”— Madison Rhodes, Hastings College women’s soccer
The striker’s burden
The numbers make her freshman season look effortless. It did not feel that way. “I came in very not quiet, but just like a little bit more scared as a freshman,” Rhodes says. Confidence, she admits, has been her biggest setback at Hastings — and the mental side of the game is still the part she works on.
Part of it comes with the position. “Especially as a striker, our main job is to score goals,” she explains. “I'd base my performance on how many goals I scored and I've been doing that since the freshman year, and that would also really affect my game and my mental well-being as an athlete.”
Her coaches’ answer has been simple: “just continue to have fun and get out of my head.” She has kept scoring since — more goals in her second season than her first, on more starts.
A day in the life of a Bronco
Away from the field, Rhodes’ schedule starts early, with an 8:00 a.m. class and another at 10:20. Then come assignments, tests, practices, weights, and a travel calendar of home and away games. “It's pretty busy for the most part, but it works,” she says.
She sees that juggling act as preparation for what comes after college. “I think this is preparing me for the real world after this,” Rhodes says, “by just helping me get like organizational strategies and techniques for the long run.”
What the crimson means
Ask Rhodes what she represents when she pulls on the Hastings jersey and the answer is people: her team, her coaches, and her professors. “Just representing a good culture, I'd have to say.”
What she loves most about this group is how it responds to a bad day. “Every season we've had a game where we should have won or just a tough game where we didn't play our best,” she says, “but we still see our long-term goal, which is obviously winning the GPAC tournament and just winning conference.”
The mark she wants to leave
Rhodes has a clear idea of what she wants her legacy at Hastings to be, and it isn’t a goal total. “I try to have as much fun playing soccer as I can,” she says. “You don't have to put so much pressure on yourself to succeed. You could have fun and succeed at the same time.”
For a striker who once measured herself only in goals, that might be the most important thing she has learned — and the thing she most wants to pass on.
Full interview transcript
Madison Rhodes answered ten questions on camera for this story. Her answers appear in full below, in her own words.
What's your first real memory of playing soccer — and when did you know you wanted to play in college?
Madison Rhodes: My first memory of playing my sport was probably when I was in elementary school and it was for club. And we were just playing "make it, take it" which is just basically everyone gets a 1 V 1 with the keeper. And if you shoot it, you are now the keeper. And then if you miss it, you go to the back of the line. And I knew I wanted to play college soccer when it was my sophomore year of high school, and I just realized I didn't wanna be done with soccer quite yet, so then I decided I wanted to play in college.
Who's had the biggest influence on your journey to becoming a Bronco?
Madison Rhodes: I would have to say my coach Jade Ovendale was the biggest influence for my journey becoming a Bronco. Cause we hit it off from the start. She was very funny, and she was also a forward as well. So she told me that she could basically help me build myself more as a soccer player, and I was hooked.
What does a typical day look like for you balancing practice, academics, and personal time?
Madison Rhodes: I think a typical day for me would be pretty busy. I have morning classes, so I have an 8:00 a.m. and a 10:00 a.m., 10:20, and I just think balancing it's sometimes hard, but at the end of the day I get it done cause obviously you have your assignments, your tests, away games, home games, practices, weights, and a bunch of other stuff in my schedule. So I just think it's pretty busy for the most part, but it works.
What's a setback you've faced here, and how did you get through it?
Madison Rhodes: I think a step back I faced here was definitely my confidence. I came in very not quiet, but just like a little bit more scared as a freshman. And I think as the years have gone on, I think my confidence tends to grow, but I think it's still the mental aspect that's still a little bit challenging.
What's the best advice a coach or teammate has ever given you?
Madison Rhodes: Just to not put so much pressure on myself is probably the best advice someone has given me. Cause I think especially as a striker, our main job is to score goals. So I think I'd base my performance on how many goals I scored and I've been doing that since the freshman year and that would also really affect my game and my mental well-being as an athlete. So my coaches tell me just to not put so much pressure on myself and just continue to have fun and get out of my head.
What makes putting on the Hastings crimson mean something to you?
Madison Rhodes: I think putting on Hastings Crimson, it means something to me because just like the culture of our team is amazing and I love my team, so just knowing that is what I'm representing is like my team, my coaches, the people here. I love it, the professors, I love it. So just representing a good culture, I'd have to say.
What do you love most about this team and the people in it?
Madison Rhodes: I think what I love most about the Hastings women's soccer team is just our ability to fight through adversity. Every season we've had a game where we should have won or just a tough game where we didn't play our best, but we still see our long-term goal, which is obviously winning the GPAC tournament and just winning conference. So I think just our ability to fight through adversity is what I love about our team.
What mark do you hope to leave on this program before you graduate?
Madison Rhodes: I hope the mark that I can leave is just the ability to separate having fun and still accomplishing a lot. I try to have as much fun playing soccer as I can, and I just wanna show like it doesn't have to, you don't have to put so much pressure on yourself to succeed, like you could have fun and succeed at the same time.
NAIA's "Right Way to Play" is about who you become. Why did you choose an NAIA school, and how has the Bronco community shaped your character?
Madison Rhodes: I think it wasn't about division. I think it was just honestly about the school itself. I fell in love with the team and the coach and just the culture that they have here. So it's not really about division for me and it shaped my character just by like working hard. I think just having like a collective long-term goal just, I don't know, really helps push you even through the harder times of the season.
How are you using your platform as a student-athlete to prepare for life after graduation?
Madison Rhodes: Definitely multitasking cause with being a student-athlete, you have to juggle a lot of things. Like I said, you have to juggle homework, exams, practice, weights, and a lot of other stuff. So I think with life is like about multitasking, getting a lot of things done. I think this is preparing me for the real world after this by just helping me get like organizational strategies and techniques for the long run.
