Ashkettle building on family legacy while creating own path inside Shawnee State women's soccer program

Throughout her time as a student-athlete -- whether it be at the high school or college level -- Lucie Ashkettle's leadership, work ethic and optimism has never lacked or waivered at any point in time.

Those factors are the main reasons why Ashkettle is on track to enjoy a tremendous collegiate career at Shawnee State -- and are why Ashkettle, who will be a junior beginning with the 2025-26 season, has already made a major impact with nine career goals inside the women's soccer program at Shawnee State as a multi-year starter out of nearby Lucasville.

For the standout alum of nearby Valley High School, Ashkettle is simply thrilled to be a part of a program that she sees as heading in the right direction.

"Our coaches have done an outstanding job changing the way our program runs for the better," Ashkettle said. "Being a part of a team that emphasizes a healthy team dynamic, strong work ethic, discipline, and putting academics first is so enjoyable. I am so blessed to be able to be a part of a team that is always behind me."

A member of a family with tight athletic ties to Shawnee State -- and athletic success across the board from a statewide standpoint, in general with SSU Athletic Hall of Famer Matt Ashkettle being her father and 2006 Ohio High School Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Famer and longtime Valley baseball coach Dean Schuler being her grandfather -- sports, one could say, was in Ashkettle's blood from the moment that the future multi-sport standout was born.

By the age of three, Ashkettle was already playing rec league soccer in various leagues, and later on, pursued basketball at high level as well. Ashkettle says that her mother, Brandi Miller, was a critical component, in particular, for Ashkettle being able to make it to the collegiate level due to her support.

"Just like a lot of other kids, my parents threw me into any and all sports to try them out and see what I liked best," Ashkettle said. "My biggest encourager in the sport of soccer was definitely my mom. She did anything and everything and spent a lot of time and money to take me to tournaments, pay for club fees, and afford a new pair of cleats every season. I am very thankful and fortunate to have someone like that in my life always supporting my goals and being there to celebrate my achievements and accomplishments."

As Ashkettle played the sport growing up, the budding soccer player took note of Julie Ertz's game growing up. A two-time United States Soccer Female Player of the Year, Ertz is widely considered to be one of the greatest international soccer players of all time -- having scored 20 goals for the U.S. National team, including 18 of them between the calendar years of 2015 to 2018, collecting two FIFA World Cups in 2015 and 2019, and winning three CONCACAF Championships.

Between FIFA World Cup and CONCACAF play alone, Erta led the U.S. National team to an astounding 28-1 overall record.

"My biggest role model had to be Julie Ertz," Ashkettle said. "I admired her for her versatility, relentless work ethic, and ability to dominate both midfield and defense. Although we have never really played the same position, I have never looked up to someone more. She consistently played with heart and grit, inspiring her teammates and fans through her determination and leadership. She has inspired me to approach challenges with intensity, resilience and always be a vocal player who encourages her teammates."

Late in her adolescence, Ashkettle, along with older brother Jake, moved back to a familiar spot for the family in general -- Lucasville and Scioto County, where Jake played his way into a starting role inside the baseball program.

While much of Ashkettle's family had a strong baseball and volleyball pedigree, in particular, Lucie's love for the game of soccer would take her a different route. 

The task of blazing her own path in the sport wouldn't be easy, however. Valley, a school that has always traditionally punched above its weight class, only had a co-ed high school soccer team -- and not the separate male and female programs that many high schools had.

True to form, Ashkettle turned that fact into a positive -- and it showed in her play throughout at Valley.

"Soccer is definitely a tasking game that takes a lot of thought and strategy to play," Ashkettle said. "When I was just learning and hearing multiple perspectives from multiple coaches growing up, it was cool to learn their different styles of play which ultimately helped me become a more diverse player. I would say I started playing in clubs and beginning on more competitive teams when I was around eight years old. I grew up in Columbus, Ohio and It's crazy to think about how many girls in my area were trying out for these teams and how many different teams were available to play for. I started thinking about my college career when I was a freshman in high school. It was always a dream of mine when I was little but I never thought about it seriously until I realized how I was competing on a predominantly male team at Valley."

In her freshman season in 2019, Ashkettle helped Valley obtain an 8-8-3 overall record -- notching two goals and four assists as a freshman to help the Indians reach the OHSAA Division III District Semifinals -- then posted six goals and six assists as a sophomore to up Valley's record to 9-6-3 and get the Indians back in the OHSAA Division III District Semifinals again.

Ashkettle's final two seasons in the sport at the high school level were even better.

Over those campaigns, Ashkettle combined for 18 goals and 18 assists to post the second-most overall points on Valley's co-ed soccer roster in her junior and senior seasons -- helping the Indians amass a 28-7-2 overall record with one OHSAA Division III District Final appearance along with another OHSAA Division III District Semifinal appearance as well.

For her career, Ashkettle ultimately collected 26 goals and 28 assists for an 80-point effort across her four years at Valley. 

Her efforts on the pitch for Valley, along with her play for the Southern Ohio Chargers, a soccer club program that current Shawnee State assistant coach Chris Murphy led, and where Ashkettle played alongside future Shawnee State teammates Annie Coriell and Elizabeth Brown, attracted interest from SSU to stay home -- and continue her soccer career at the collegiate level just 10 minutes down the road, where her mother (volleyball), father (baseball) and aunt (volleyball) had each continued their own careers.

"I am so thankful for my time playing at Valley on one of the last years of there being a co-ed team. I think that God has a reason for everything, and I truly think it was a blessing getting to play on a team that made me stronger and better technically at my game. Getting recruited for college was definitely difficult in southern Ohio, let alone on a predominately male team. I am just thankful for my family, coaches, and teammates who encouraged and supported me throughout my whole high school career. I had lots of relatives who attended Shawnee and were also successful at their sports. My dad, Matthew Ashkettle played baseball here and was inducted into the Athletic Hall of Fame years ago. My aunt Shelly Williams and my mom, Brandi Miller also played volleyball here, so it's pretty awesome to be a part of Shawnee State Athletics."

Ashkettle wasted little time adjusting fairly seamlessly to collegiate soccer. While Shawnee State started the year 0-7-1 overall, Ashkettle's seven goals and four assists helped the Bears finish the 2023 season on an 8-3 note, helping Shawnee State advance all the way to the River States Conference Semifinals before falling in a double-overtime contest to Indiana-Kokomo.

Still, Ashkettle, who posted four goals and four assists over Shawnee State's final 11 games, enjoyed a terrific freshman season.

And while her sophomore campaign wasn't as successful in terms of the win column, the year was more enjoyable for Ashkettle as a whole thanks to a new presence on the team.

Despite his late start in the process, first-year Shawnee State head coach Joe McCauley got right to work, and despite having just over two weeks to get his players ready for their season opener, weathered an early storm to lead the SSU women's soccer program to a 3-3-3 overall record over its final nine contests and a River States Conference Tournament berth once again.

"Coach Joe has been a game changer for me personally," Ashkettle said. "He is an incredible coach who cares not just about the game but, more importantly, his players. You can see the passion through his coaching style, and I love that. When he first got here, I immediately knew he was going to be great for our program. He walked in with no plan and instead told us he wanted to see how we played and that HE would adapt to our play and come up with a game plan from there. Being a new coach, walking in on August 6th with little time to work with us, he did an outstanding job progressing our play tremendously and creating team chemistry that had been failed to find in past years. As for Chris Murphy, he is one of the main reasons Shawnee State was such a big contender in my decision. Coach Murphy was my club coach for many years and a great one, not only was he a big part of the player I am today, he was so helpful in my recruiting life and contacting coaches for me. I had never had anyone to do that for me, and he stepped in big time and kept up with things without me even having to ask. He is a great person and coach, the program is so thankful to have him."

With her junior season just six months away from commencing, the talented student-athlete already has a great deal figured out. Athletically, Ashkettle has already obtained two all-conference accolades in two seasons of play, and academically, Ashkettle has already passed over 70 hours of academic credit and holds a GPA above 3.8, having obtained River States Conference and NAIA Scholar-Athlete honors in the process.

Ashkettle's success as a student-athlete also made a big impact in her own community. This fall, Valley will sport two separate soccer programs, one girls and one boys, for the first time -- a promising development, to say the least, that arguably couldn't have happened without Ashkettle's own trailblazing path.

"It is truly amazing to see soccer grow bigger in this community," Ashkettle said. "I think the youth programs in our area are helping tremendously to make this happen. Valley having a girls team is so exciting to see. It was intimidating having to prove myself just as good as the boys on my team, but it was awesome proving and being a role model for many of the little girls in the stands. The girls program will allow these girls to be confident and follow their dreams, and that's my favorite part about it."

Having made a sizeable impact in her home community and as a student-athlete already, Lucie Ashkettle has already provided inspiration for many female student-athletes for years to come.

However, the high-achiever knows of one goal out there that she wants to accomplish that herself, nor any other soccer player on both the men's and women's programs, have been a part of yet.

"In my final two seasons here at SSU, we will be winning a conference championship," Ashkettle said. "We are on the right path with recruits for next year, and will hopefully have some better numbers to help us achieve this goal. I know we have the talent and we want it bad."