It’s unfair to compare the career statistics of Linfield Athletics Hall of Fame inductee Emily (Fellows) Terry with any other student-athlete who ever wore a Linfield women’s soccer uniform.
That’s because Emily was a generational talent and unquestionably the best pure goal scorer to grace the Linfield campus. Her career totals of 84 goals, 187 points and 34 match-winning tallies simply dwarf every other entry in the Linfield record book.
Former Linfield women’s soccer coach Dom Doty says “When talking about players who have been a part of the Linfield women’s soccer program, Emily is the best of the best. She was powerful, skillful, strong, fast and intelligent. She embodied all the elements of a player that will be recognized as arguably the best to ever do it at Linfield.”
To put Emily’s knack for scoring in perspective, she twice tallied four goals in a single match, and scored three goals in the same contest three times. She finished her career with 11 multi-goal efforts; the next closest Wildcat netted two goals or more on only six occasions.
A two-time NSCAA All-American, three-time Northwest Conference Offensive Player of the Year, and four-time first team all-conference honoree, Emily dominated the women’s soccer pitch during the most successful stretch in program history, spanning 2010 until 2014.
Emily’s most productive season, statistically, was her freshman year of 2010. That year, she took the Northwest Conference by storm with a school-record 26 goals and six assists.
Not counting her sophomore season of 2011 when she was forced to the sidelines with a torn knee ligament, Linfield won or tied 63 of 81 matches, including a remarkable 46-14-7 record in conference play. That run included three league runner-up finishes.
Emily says her Linfield soccer experience taught her “perseverance, how to overcome hardships, time-management skills, teamwork and effective communication. These are all skills I learned and strengthened through playing soccer that help me in my day-to-day life.”
Those same qualities enabled Emily to return from her major injury and record two NSCAA All-America campaigns over her final three seasons, scoring a combined 51 goals to go along with 12 assists.
Looking back, Emily says the time spent with her teammates was more memorable than any single goal, match, season, or award.
“The moments that stand out the most to me are the trips we took as a team. We went to Bend my freshman year and went to the coast for day trips every other year. I just enjoyed the moments when we got to connect off the field.”
Emily says traveling to California with her team for out-of-conference matches and mid-week bouts under the stadium lights are also special times that she cherishes.
It’s hard to believe, but Emily’s record-setting soccer career at Linfield almost never got started.
After leading Jesuit High School to the Class 6A girls state championship as a senior, Emily says she was burned out on soccer and “had pretty much decided that I didn’t want to play in college. I was not active in any conversations with other schools.”
One visit to Linfield changed her mind. She chose to attend Linfield because “it just felt like a family! I remember sitting next to (former Linfield basketball coach) Larry Doty and watching a game on my visit and he made me laugh the entire time! It just felt like a great environment and that was something I wanted to be a part of.”
These days, Emily and her husband, former Linfield football player Curtis Terry, live in Gig Harbor, Washington, and are raising three children: 4-year-old Charlotte, 2-year old Ford, and 1-year-old Kennedy.
Emily began working with Dutch Bros in McMinnville while still a student at Linfield. In the years since, she’s been elevated to a regional operator with the company, where she manages a team of high school and college-aged workers.
