Persistent Molly Hagelie goes from manager to starter on 'inspirational' path at Bemidji State
· Yahoo Sports
Oct. 31—At different points throughout the school year, Bemidji State women's soccer head coach Jim Stone holds one-on-one meetings with his players.
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The conversations are individualized and tailored to get to the core of Stone's relationship with each player. He often uses current and former Beavers as examples for lessons on and off the pitch.
As he nears the end of his 25th season at the helm, Stone has plenty of players to draw comparisons to — stalwarts such as Rachael Norton, Sara Wendt, Megan Dahl, Katrina Barthelt, Halle Peterson and more.
But one of those players, despite being far less heralded, has become one of Stone's forever talking points.
"She'll be the centerpiece of a lot of different discussions over the rest of my time here, from a lot of different angles," he said of senior center back Molly Hagelie.
In 2023, the Brainerd native enrolled at Bemidji State for her freshman year of college. Hagelie was not recruited to play for the Beavers — she wasn't heavily recruited to play for anybody.
But Hagelie is nothing but persistent. While she planned on attending BSU to study physical health education with or without soccer, she kept pushing for a tryout. Ultimately, Stone told Hagelie she could be a team manager during her first semester before auditioning for a roster spot in the spring.
Four years later, Hagelie is gearing up to play — and likely start — her first collegiate postseason game on BSU's back line.
"It still doesn't feel very real, like I can't believe I'm in this position," she said. "But every game, I get more comfortable in the spot and more confident in myself that I should be there."
College athletics is rooted in opportunity, and Hagelie found a way to seize hers.
Not only was she a soccer player for Brainerd High School, but she also played girls hockey and ran track. By the time she decided to pursue a post-secondary soccer career, it was late in the 2023 recruiting cycle.
"It's also hard to get recruited out of a small town," Hagelie said. "I knew I'd have to walk on somewhere."
She started reaching out to coaches via email, but didn't get responses. However, while attending an I.D. Camp, which puts recruits in front of college coaches for training and recruiting purposes, Hagelie took some advice to heart.
"They said that if you're the one reaching out, keep reaching out, even if you don't hear a response," Hagelie said. "Be persistent."
She sent several emails to Stone, but nothing caught his attention in an inbox loaded with similar messages. So she decided to take a different approach.
Hagelie played club soccer with Xolos Academy FC, a central Minnesota-based team. Ally Smith, another Brainerd native who had just finished an illustrious career at Bemidji State, knew Hagelie well. Ana Steadman, a goalkeeper out of Little Falls, also played club soccer with Hagelie before heading to Bemidji State for her freshman year in 2023.
Smith put in a good word for Hagelie to Stone. She gave Hagelie his phone number, and the two connected with a phone call.
"I think the reason why we were so willing to open the door was the connection to Ally and because of Molly's persistence, and her connection with Ana," Stone said. "We felt like we were bringing in a really positive person to the program, someone who certainly won't hinder us from a culture standpoint."
Once Hagelie got her foot in the door, it didn't take her long to kick it off its hinges.
The weeks leading up to Hagelie's first semester were stressful.
When she got the phone call that she was on the team as a manager, she let out a sigh of relief. But when practices started, she felt out of place. She pestered the BSU coaching staff to let her practice, but it wasn't allowed due to NCAA rules.
"It took me a while to be comfortable," Hagelie said. "It felt like everyone was looking at me."
The more she hung around, the more familiar she became with the team. Stone and Hagelie had an agreement that she'd be given a two-week tryout at the beginning of the spring semester, and all of her teammates knew of it.
"They were all super excited for me, and I think that's why I felt comfortable enough to go after it," Hagelie said.
In January 2024, Hagelie returned from winter break to a snow-covered, below-freezing campus on the shore of Lake Bemidji. The anticipation of taking part in her first collegiate practices made it hard to sleep.
"Waking up for the first day of practice, I felt like I was going to throw up," Hagelie said. "I didn't want to embarrass myself. But also, everyone knew this was what I wanted to do, so I knew they'd be watching me. I was so nervous, but once I got there and started practicing, I was just playing soccer."
Two weeks flew by, and Hagelie hadn't been told to stop practicing, so she kept showing up. About a month after her first official practice, she had another one-on-one meeting with Stone, where she was told she made the team.
It didn't take Stone the entire month to know if she had a spot.
"Molly probably didn't know me well enough to understand that I'm a softie," Stone said with a laugh. "Just the way she carried herself in the fall — the willingness to show and to serve around the team in that capacity — I knew it would be hard to say no. But at the same time, she earned it.
"During those two weeks, if we thought her level of play wasn't up to par or her training was going to hinder us — our training environment is really important — maybe it would've gone differently. She certainly earned it."
Hagelie had no expectations of actually playing game minutes for the Beavers.
"We had so many people in front of me, and they were recruited to be on the team," she said. "To me, it was just grinding it out. Being on this team, I was just here to play. If it happened, it happened, and if it didn't, it didn't. But I was just glad to get to play."
Hagelie vividly remembers taking the field for the first time at the college level.
On Sept. 15, 2024, Bemidji State was in the process of blowing out former NSIC foe Upper Iowa. The Beavers scored five times, causing Stone to send in a wave of reserves.
"I was so nervous," Hagelie said. "I remember I was standing on the sideline. Sometimes, you can feel it coming. You're playing against a team, you're getting goals. They're going to start putting in some subs and give people some minutes. I knew it was coming, but I was very nervous.
"But once you get on the field and touch the ball, the anticipation of it goes away."
Hagelie logged 12 minutes in a 5-1 win. She played eight minutes against both Minnesota Crookston and Winona State in a pair of 3-0 triumphs.
As a junior, Hagelie played a total of 19 minutes in two matches.
By the end of the 2025 season, Hagelie started to question her pursuit. While she was grateful to have made the team, the mystique of her situation had worn off, and she contemplated quitting.
"I didn't get a lot of minutes my junior year," she said. "We had a meeting, and (Stone) said he didn't think I'd get a lot of minutes this year. I also wanted to have an experience in college not being a student-athlete, and it's hard to work so hard at something and not get a result. I was thinking about quitting, but my teammates are the reason I stuck around.
"I'm so glad I did."
In that meeting, Hagelie asked Stone if she could shift to center back, her position in high school. Bemidji State had lost key defenders, including captain Emma Huelsnitz to graduation and Julia Freed to Division I Iowa through the transfer portal.
"I remember him saying no," Hagelie said with a laugh. "And then we got to our first spring game, and I had been practicing at center back because Julia officially transferred — the spot was open and we didn't have anyone to fill it. ... He put me there with Grace Schwoch for our first spring game and it stuck. It felt like I was back home, in a way."
Hagelie came out of the spring game believing she played "pretty well," but also knew there were a handful of highly-touted freshmen coming in.
But on Aug. 21, in an exhibition against the College of Saint Benedict, Hagelie was listed as a starter — at center back. When the regular season commenced a week later against Missouri Western State, she was in the same position.
Hagelie has started all 18 games for the Beavers. She's logged 1,371 minutes this season and is in line to start BSU's first-round NSIC Tournament game against U-Mary on Monday, Nov. 2.
"If you would've told me at this time last year I'd be in this position, I wouldn't believe you," Hagelie said. "A lot of the time, it can feel very hard and like you're not going anywhere, but it can literally change so quick. One injury and now you're in a starting spot. It happens in the snap of a finger, so you have to keep going to work and grind away to make yourself better, because it's going to come. You'll get your shot."
When talking to others about Hagelie, Stone finds himself rambling with an ear-to-ear smile. He holistically understands that players like her, and her entire body of work, are unique.
"She added a lot of value her first three years," he said, passionately. "She brought enormous value as a manager. She brought enormous value training every day with a positive attitude. She just worked so hard and never complained."
Stone went on to stress the importance of Hagelie's role on the Beavers, saying that she would still be as revered now if she "only played 10 minutes" this season.
"She's inspirational not only to the players who are not playing yet, but who someday might, but also to the importance of the value she brought when she wasn't playing at all," Stone continued. "Molly is front and center of the story in so many ways."