After Medical Scare, Soccer Star Returns to Action

Tiffany McCarty, who began her soccer career with a youth team in Laurel, was just days away from heading to Germany last summer with a U.S. national women's soccer team for a tournament after her sophomore year of college.

But the graduate of St. John's College High in Washington, D.C. had to miss the trip due to a medical issue.

"There was a rare type of tumor in my jaw," McCarty told Patch on Monday. "I did not know if it was cancerous or not."

She had surgery last summer and was forced to miss the 2010 season in women's soccer at Division I Florida State last fall.

A 5-foot-4 striker, McCarty—who played for the Laurel Wildcats travel team when she was younger—was the freshman of the year in the Atlantic Coast Conference for Florida State in 2008 when she had 11 goals and six assists.

She was also one of the top players for the Seminoles as a sophomore in 2009, when she led the ACC in goals with 17 and was named an All-American.

McCarty, the daughter of Vinson and Gloria McCarty of Laurel, said it was tough to sit on the sidelines last season. "I think the hardest part is that I had never been through anything like that before," she said.

She attended classes during the fall semester in 2010 and attended nearly every home game. During the Christmas break she had a second surgery, but she said Monday she is now fine physically and the tumor was not cancerous.

McCarty returned to the field a few weeks ago and is playing in California for the Pali Blues in the United Soccer League, a circuit that does not jeopardize her eligibility in college. She has played seven games and is among the league leaders in shots with 16.

Pali Blues Vice President Charlie Naimo, in a statement earlier this year, said of McCarty when she was one of three Florida State products to join the team:  “I am most familiar with Tiff, and quite frankly I am glad she is on my side for once. Between club soccer when she was younger, and [Washington] Freedom [development clubs], we have crossed paths a bunch. She is a major threat getting behind defenses and will keep any backline honest."

McCarty plans to head back to Florida State to prepare for her redshirt junior season in late July. She has two years of eligibility left.

The Laurel resident has not let two surgeries slow her down in the classroom. She hopes to graduate with a degree in psychology later this year and then play in 2012 as a graduate student at Florida State.

"I am very excited about the season," she told Patch from California. "Some of my [college] teammates are here, too, and I am trying to get more comfortable with them." Jamia Fields and Jessica Price from the Florida State program are on the Pali roster, along with Danielle Hubka from the University of Maryland.

McCarty played for the U-16, U-17 and U-18 national teams and was the leading scorer for the U-16 team in 2006 and the U-17 team the next year. She was part of the 2009 U-20 team that played in the 10 Nations Tournament in Spain.

She was with the U.S. U-20 team that played two games in Germany in June 2009 and she had a goal against Germany and England.

McCarty left St. John's as the leading scorer in school history with 191 goals and 74 assists. She was a Parade All-American in 2008 and led the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference in scoring four years in a row.

Her brother, Ian, graduated from Archbishop Carroll in Washington, D.C. and played soccer in college at Mount St. Mary's and Hofstra.