FORT INDIANTOWN GAP, Pa. - When 1st Lt. Daniela McCurdy graduated from Millersville University in 2023, she left campus with an Army commission and an unexpected loose end. She had one year of NCAA soccer eligibility still unused.
She assumed that chapter of her life, as a college athlete, had closed. Ahead of her was a career as a human resources officer in the U.S. Army. Within months, McCurdy, then assigned to the Pennsylvania National Guard’s 213th Personnel Company, was deployed to the Middle East. Her main focus was on the mission and the rapid transition from college student to leader of Soldiers in a combat zone.
However, amid the stress of deployment, she learned that the Army has a way of revealing strengths you didn’t know you still had.
During long conversations with her company commander, Capt. Michael Medvec, she began to imagine what life after deployment could look like.
“LT McCurdy was very hesitant on what she wanted to do as far as school and soccer was concerned,” Medvec said. “As we talked through her counseling and goals, I told her to make a choice. She needed to investigate her eligibility and then start looking at schools she might want to attend. She took the counseling very seriously and ran with the guidance.”
While deployed with the 213th Personnel Company, then under Area Support Group-Kuwait, McCurdy stumbled into an opportunity that reignited her competitive fire. ASG‑Kuwait was hosting tryouts for a soccer team that would compete in the Scimitar Games, a series of friendly sporting competitions between Kuwaiti military personnel and U.S. personnel stationed or deployed there.
These games also offered an opportunity to play against Kuwait’s professional men’s team.
“Three weeks prior to tryouts I was tasked with a mission in Iraq and Syria,” McCurdy said. “On the return trip to Kuwait we got stuck in Erbil, Iraq and I ended up not getting back until 7 a.m. on the day of tryouts that started at 8 a.m.”
McCurdy was tired, but she showed up anyway.
She made the team, one of only four women to make it.
Training five days a week against men who she described as above‑average players, she found herself getting stronger, sharper and more confident. Her team of fellow U.S. Soldiers went on to win a multinational tournament against an Air Force team, two teams from the Italian and Canadian armed forces and two Kuwaiti teams. McCurdy was named MVP.
That victory earned them an invitation to a Kuwaiti military base to play the Kuwait professional indoor team. She was the only woman on the entire base, and she scored in the penalty shootout.
By the time she returned home in July 2025, McCurdy’s new mission was to earn her master’s degree, but deep down wanted to use her final year of NCAA eligibility. She applied to Rowan University’s Master of Arts in Strategic Communication program and emailed the head women’s soccer coach, Scott Leacott.
He offered her a chance to walk on, which she took without hesitating.
“I couldn’t fathom the fact that I just got home from a deployment a month before preseason started and that I was really doing it,” McCurdy said. “Experiencing the goals from my counseling sheet from Capt. Medvec in real time was unreal.”
Stepping back onto a college field wasn’t just physical. To McCurdy, it was emotional, grounding and affirming. She brought with her the leadership she’d forged overseas. Those leadership qualities are what stood out to Leacott during the preseason.
“You could kind of sense overall the maturity level she brought right out of the gate and that continued throughout the year,” Leacott said. “She was phenomenal from the start. She brought team-building exercises she learned from her military experience right away to our program and had a huge impact. All the players knew her experience and were kind of in awe of what she went through.”
As a lieutenant, McCurdy said there are many times when she needs to think of solutions, make decisions and be a voice of reason. As the older player in the locker room, she could see the growth she had made during deployment.
“The little dramas of the typical college and team drama no longer have a space in my life where it would have during undergrad,” McCurdy said. “I don’t live and die play-by-play anymore.”
Drawing on her experience as an Army officer, McCurdy consistently demanded excellence from herself and the team while maintaining high morale.
“LT was always asking for more to do and proving that she could handle anything given to her,” Medvec said, referring to McCurdy’s work ethic during the deployment. “She worked as hard if not harder than some of my seasoned first lieutenants and proved she could handle multiple assignments at a time.”
On Rowan’s 2025 stat sheet, it says the 5-foot-1 defender from Wenonah, New Jersey, played 42 minutes on the season. But beyond the stat sheet, McCurdy became a steady presence in the locker room and embraced her role as a mentor to younger women in a sport they love. She was older, calmer and more intentional. She strove to be the teammate who elevated everyone around her.
“I think Dani knew right away that being away from the game competitively for that long really affected the way she was going to compete,” Leacott said. “She never gave up and competed hard day in and day out, always there to lend an ear to someone or offer solid advice along the way.”
It seemed to pay off. Rowan finished the 2025 season with a winning record, 13-2-5, including 7-0-2 in New Jersey Athletic Conference, or NJAC, play. They made it to the championship game of the NJAC tournament, their ninth appearance in program history, only losing to Montclair State in penalty kicks.
Their overall performance earned a berth to the NCAA Division III tournament, where they defeated No. 16 Misericordia in the first round before eventually falling to Penn State-Harrisburg.
“The most meaningful part has been how accepting the Rowan women’s soccer team has been,” McCurdy said. “I don’t know how I would feel if I found out a girl who just got home from a deployment and hasn’t played collegiately in three years would become my newest teammate for only one season.”
NIL, the transfer portal, and COVID-19 eligibility extensions have driven the average age of college athletes higher in recent years. However, on the older end of that age spectrum are athletes who have typically remained on rosters the whole time. They were not far removed from their respective sports, making it easier to connect with teammates.
McCurdy said that her Rowan teammates gave her a unique voice and the respect of being an older player, when they didn’t have to.
“We are so thankful for her and what she brought to our lives and program in such a short time,” Leacott said. “She set an example day in and day out for the younger players.”
As her super-senior season ended and she turned her sole focus to finishing her graduate degree, she looked back fondly at the opportunity to play soccer on deployment. In many ways, it changed the trajectory not only of her athletic career but also of the Rowan soccer players she mentored.
“That entire experience and the people I met playing on the ASG-Kuwait team impacted me more than I thought it ever would,” McCurdy said. “I dedicated my last collegiate season to them.”
Aside from being a deployment pastime, the game has a deeper meaning for McCurdy. Many aspects of soccer help in her Army duties, and vice versa, especially as she pursues her goal of becoming an Army field-grade officer.
From her point of view, the life lessons cannot be replicated anywhere else. Soccer, just like her role as an Army officer, requires discipline. She says that even those who are naturally gifted in the sport need to dedicate hours of time to be able to compete at the highest levels.
“The sport brings so many people around the world together in ways you would never think,” McCurdy said. “I think the older I get and more removed from the game I am as a former player the more I appreciate what the sport offers.”
Her long-term goal, outside of the Army, is to use her graduate education in public relations to help the veteran community. For now, though, she hopes her journey sends a message to her fellow veterans who feel like their best days are behind them.
“You’re never too late in the game,” McCurdy said. “Even if you are your only supporter, that’s all it takes to turn what some would call a delusional goal into reality.”
For women in uniform who wonder if they can balance service and sport, McCurdy says to avoid thinking you’re too old. No experience is too big or small, and the impact you’ll have goes beyond the sport itself.
Representing her school and country is a feeling she’ll never forget. It also brings a sense of pride to those who helped her along the way.
“I always joke that my Soldiers and lieutenants were almost young enough to be my kids, so for me it was almost like a proud father moment,” Medvec said. “I tried very hard to mentor and lead all of my Soldiers during my tenure of command. She is definitely one of many success stories of good Soldiers that take away the good from a leader and apply it directly to their own life and leadership style.”