Let’s Just Play

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Abi Brighton and her Vanderbilt women’s soccer teammates didn’t exactly swagger into Orange Beach, Alabama, ahead of the 2020 SEC Tournament. Nearing the apex of an unusual fall, which featured games against solely SEC opponents during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Commodores were struggling to play consistent soccer. But spirits lifted and frustrations faded as their bus pulled up to the Alabama hotel.

Brighton and her teammates marveled at the oversized waterslide, at the beach and oceanside trappings. After everything that fall had thrown at them, on and off the field, they felt stress lifting—almost as if they were starting a vacation. As they gathered their things to file off the bus, head coach Darren Ambrose steered into the vibe.

“Just go have fun,” Ambrose told them. “Don’t overthink it, just play. Let’s just play.”

They did just that—earning the bracket positions to stay through the entire tournament:  The Commodores rolled to their first tournament title since 1994, outscoring opponents 14-4.

Already a midfield starter in her debut season, Brighton scored twice in the tournament—including a goal against Mississippi State that made ESPN SportsCenter’s top plays of the day. She’s now at the other end of the athletic timeline, a graduate student ready to lead the Commodores into her final SEC Tournament (in Pensacola, Florida).

BANGERS 🚀 ft. Abi Brighton.#SCTop10 | #AnchorDown pic.twitter.com/evFebwENrt

— Vanderbilt Soccer (@VandySoccer) November 16, 2020

Brighton arrived at Vanderbilt in the middle of the pandemic that upended daily life. She’s competed for five seasons in a college sports landscape that’s morphing in real time, from the growth of the transfer portal to the advent of NIL. A leader, captain and all-conference midfielder, she embodies the unchanging values that shaped a successful program—even as she helps that program navigate a new era of change and challenge.

She’s lived in interesting times, as the apocryphal proverb goes. She’s thrived by never letting go of that piece of advice on the bus in Orange Beach: “Let’s just play.”

“Any college player goes through a lot of trials and ups and downs—you never know if you’re going to get injured or have the best game your life,” Brighton said. “I feel like one of the biggest ways I’ve grown is just being able to adapt to those times. I would say it’s pretty hard to shake me up as a person now.”

Abi Brighton has played more than 7,000 minutes for Vanderbilt entering the SEC Tournament (Garrett Ohrenberg/Vanderbilt Athletics). 

Understand Why You Play

At one point, Brighton was more than a little skeptical about taking soccer seriously. As a kid of about 10, she was happy playing rec league soccer on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, where she grew up. After all, you got Popsicles after games. What more could a sport offer? But when her older brother joined a more competitive club more than an hour away and her dad suggested she try that environment, too, she entered a new world.

By the time she was in high school, she would train near home in the pre-dawn hours, attend a specialized school with flexible, personalized study plans until early afternoon, then make the long commute to train with her club, often returning home close to 10 p.m.

At some point during all of that, it’s difficult to avoid thinking about why you’re doing it. There were some days when Brighton struggled to answer that question, aware that hers was a decidedly atypical high school experience. But there were more days when it was hard to imagine doing anything else. It wasn’t about winning games and trophies—which is an obsession for many clubs, earning the American elite youth soccer scene frequent critiques. During practices that might begin with 30 minutes of nothing but juggling (learning to control the ball with feet, head, knees and anything else the rules allow), she felt the thrill of growth. She set the alarm and skipped typical high school social gatherings because she loved the feeling that comes with mastering something that once seemed unattainable.

“The coaches that I had made it so easy to love the sport, and the people that I played with made it really easy,” Brighton said. “I loved the training sessions and the fact that they really highlighted and pushed me to be a technical player. They created a great environment, and that helped me develop the dedication to drive hours and wake up early and whatnot.

“I eventually figured out that I wanted to keep taking it further.”

Abi Brighton and Kate Devine (No. 00) lead the Commodores onto the field (Garrett Ohrenberg/Vanderbilt Athletics).

Persevere to Play

These days, it’s rare to find Brighton without finding goalkeeper Kate Devine nearby. They’re roommates, graduate students and best friends seemingly attached at the hip.

“I feel like you don’t ever really find a friend like that,” Brighton said. “So whatever you do, you’ve got to keep them close.”

Though forging lifelong friendships is a story that has played out on campus for more than 150 years, they rarely began quite like this one.

Two of the first newcomers on campus as preseason approached in summer 2020, Brighton and Devine moved in near each other in Highland Quad. It was still early in the pandemic—at the height of precautionary social distancing and many months before vaccines were widely available. Initially, their interactions were limited to sharing the daily walk to the McGugin Center and halting questions like “What’s your favorite color?”

“We were both a little awkward,” Brighton said, laughing. “I was thinking, ‘This girl is weird.’ But hey, I’m a little weird too.”

It wasn’t until they were able to wander in and out of each other’s rooms the next year that they discovered they had similarities more compelling than a color palette. Devine’s first year was derailed by a case of COVID and complications that left her unable to play—or even walk up a flight of stairs without getting winded. Brighton avoided anything so serious, but the initial awkward encounters with her future roommate were indicative of the unique challenges of a new environment and getting to know people that fall. At least for Brighton, time on and around the field in practices and games provided some reprieve and a sense of normalcy.

Making her collegiate debut in a brand new position was a breeze, by comparison. It’s perhaps telling, in a good way, that Brighton led Vanderbilt in fouls committed during the season opener against Kentucky in 2020. Ambrose needed a holding midfielder, a position that demands decisive action. Often the offensive and defensive fulcrum, a holding mid can’t be timid. She can’t overthink.

“The more I got into the game, it was perfectly fine,” Brighton said of her debut. “I just had to get into a rhythm.”

The Commodores were up and down that fall: a three-game winning streak preceded a three-game losing streak. Seven of their eight regular-season games were decided by one goal. Entering the SEC Tournament, they thought they had the talent to beat any opponent on their day. But it was frustrating to see that potential rewarded with inconsistent results.

Everything came together in Orange Beach. They opened with a 4-0 victory over Mississippi State, then avenged a regular-season defeat in the sweetest way imaginable with a 4-2 win against second-seeded Tennessee. In the semifinal, two late goals capped a dominant second half performance in a 3-1 win against third-seeded Texas A&M.

There was no stopping the juggernaut: Though No. 1 seed Arkansas scored after just 46 seconds, Vanderbilt led 2-1 before the championship game was five minutes old.

Brighton added the exclamation point with the final goal for a 3-1 win. Sitting on the sideline with the final seconds ticking off the clock, the game well in hand, she vividly remembers the wave of ensuing emotion.

“When the whistle blew, it was just the sensation of everyone running on the field and jumping around and then trophy comes,” Brighton said. “It was just such a cool experience. I can’t even describe the feeling—I just felt like we worked so hard toward something and we actually got it.”

Abi Brighton and Mia Gonzalez celebrate a goal in a 2-0 win at Florida (Matt Pendleton/Vanderbilt Athletics). 

Play for Your People

Brighton started almost every game the next three seasons. She assisted on the game-winning goal when Vanderbilt beat Clemson in the 2022 NCAA Tournament. A year ago, as a team captain, she earned All-SEC Second Team honors, one of five Commodores in the past decade to earn SEC All-Freshmen and All-SEC honors during their careers.

After graduating last spring, she could have transferred anywhere to use the additional year of eligibility granted all student-athletes affected by the pandemic. But even though she played her entire collegiate career in the era of the transfer portal, and she could have transferred at any time without penalty, she couldn’t entertain the thought of playing her fifth and final season anywhere but Vanderbilt.

“Vanderbilt has given me a lot of great opportunities. I have loved my team, and I have loved the coaches,” Brighton said. “So I felt like it would have been a betrayal if I went to another team. I couldn’t do that to the team and the coaches. I felt like if I committed to a place my freshman year, I should stay there. And I got the opportunity to do so.”

Play for the Future

In addition to captaining Vanderbilt to 9-2-6 record and No. 5 seed in the SEC Tournament, Brighton is using her extra year for the Owen Graduate School of Management’s 10-month Master of Marketing program. Her campus footprint is smaller these days: Her classes are only a couple of minutes from her apartment, and she rarely has to venture deeper into campus. Many friends moved on after graduation. So it’s almost like when she first arrived in that unusual COVID-wracked fall—most of the faces are unfamiliar.

She is still eager to go further in the sport, though, whether as part of Vanderbilt’s pipeline to the National Women’s Soccer League or overseas.

And as her time in Nashville nears an end, she keeps shaping Vanderbilt’s future. She was a team captain throughout her youth club career, but at those ages, the title rarely involves more than leading the pre-match stretching or saying a few words before kickoff. At Vanderbilt, it’s about helping teammates prepare for life, not just the next SEC foe.

She’s been where her younger teammates are. Even if one of her few regrets is not fully exploring the NIL landscape, she understands what’s involved in thinking about your Opendorse or brand presence. She knows the world in which the portal is a click away. And she understands the familiar frustrations, questions and challenges that student-athletes have shared across generations—variables that can make or break a team’s chemistry.

“Darren does a great job of developing us as not only players, but people,” Brighton said. “I’ve had some hard things I’ve had to address as a captain and a teammate, and it helped me having Darren behind me to support me and just building me up as a stronger personality, if that makes sense. I would say I used to be a little—not that I was too nice, but I didn’t want to step on any toes or anything. You learn to go about communicating in a way that has the best benefit for all parties. I feel like that’s something that I’ll probably take with me throughout my whole entire work career—whenever I do decide to get a job.”

She’ll also take the advice she’s followed for 89 games (and counting) during a collegiate career chock full of interesting times: when in doubt, no matter how much the world changes, just play.