A native of Kirkwood, Missouri and a graduate of Ursuline Academy where she earned St. Louis All-Metro First Team honors her senior year, Katie Imig came to Drury in the fall of 1995. At that time Drury was in its infancy stage and learning its way in the new landscape of the NCAA. Drury was only in its second-year member of the NCAA-II. Over the next decade the Drury soccer program’s affiliation changed quite a bit before it found its “home” in the NCAA-II and the GLVC in 2005.
During Katie’s first two years at Drury, the women’s soccer team was part of an NCAA-II a region that encompassed a 20-state area, included states from Wisconsin to Florida and from Louisiana to Delaware. In the final two years of her Drury career, the Panther soccer program was dually-affiliated as it was in its “compliance” phase while transitioning from NCAA-II to NCAA-I membership, and thus not eligible for post-season competition. From 1995 to 1999 the Panther soccer program had the unenviable task of competing without any conference affiliation. That was not to come until the fall of 1999 when the men’s program joined the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) and the women’s program joined the Missouri Valley Conference.
However, regardless of the challenges and the changing landscape for the Drury soccer team, Katie and her teammates faced those challenges head on and enjoyed their fair share of success. In 1995, in only its second season as a member of the NCAA-II, the Panther women finished 14-4-1. At that time the 14 wins was a school record for the program that was only five years old. Katie , as a freshman, earned National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) All-Midwest Team honors. She started all 19 games her freshman year and had 11 goals and seven assists (29 points).
In 1996 the Panthers finished 13-5-1 and were ranked as high as #23 in the NCAA-II national rankings during that season. For her efforts Katie, who was sidelined four games because of a leg injury, earned NCAA-II All Central Region honors, along with her teammates Kristi Callison, Emily Fenley and Sarah Leuenberger.
The 1997 women’s soccer team schedule featured six NCAA-I member institutions as the Drury program moved toward Division I membership. The ‘97 team finished that year with an 8-11 record and Katie was the recipient of the team’s “Golden Boot” award, an honor voted on by the members of the team recognizing the its top player and the individual who best represented the standards of hard work and team work.
In 1998 the women’s soccer team rebounded to fashion a 12-6-1 record, including an 11-2 run in its final 13 matches. In fact the Panthers were ranked seventh nationally among all new NCAA-I programs. While post-season play was not an option, included in those 11 victories were wins over NCAA-I member institutions such as Western Illinois University, Mississippi State University, Wyoming University and Oral Roberts University. The 1-0 win over Oral Roberts was played on Nov. 4, 1998 and it marked the end of Katie Imig’s collegiate soccer career.
But what a career it was. At a time when the program was independent of any conference affiliation and while it was in a “transition” mode much of the time, Katie helped her teams to an impressive 47-26-3 overall record. She earned NCAA and NSCAA honors and, at the time of her graduation, Katie held the program’s record for most goals in a career (39) and most points in a career (104). Fifteen years have passed and Katie still holds both records. She was, and still is, second in most assists in a career (26) and assists in a season (10 in 1996).
Katie Imig graduated on December 17, 1999 and earned an A.B. from Drury with a major in public relations. Named to the Dean’s Honor Roll during her Drury career, Katie Harper and her husband Cary, reside in Highlands Ranch, Colorado. They are the proud parents of three children: Jack (9), Grace (7) and Luke (5). Katie worked in the IT industry for World Wide Technology in her hometown of St. Louis. Upon the birth of their second child Katie decided to be a stay-at-home mother. Cary is a sales manager for Enterprise.
