SAN DIEGO - Roughly seventeen miles separate
Amber Michel's hometown and the University of San Diego. Electing to stay close to home for college, the goalkeeper frequented East County's freeways as she commuted from El Cajon, Calif. to Alcala Park for her first two years as a Torero.
"That's kinda why I chose USD," the 23-year-old said as she reflected back on her five years with the team. "Because it was close to home, and because I loved the weather and the city."
Staying local for school proved to be the right decision. An illustrious college career followed Michel's commitment to the Toreros, seeing the five-foot-seven goalie be named the 2019 West Coast Conference Goalkeeper of the Year in her senior season — among several other accolades.
Michel's next chapter, however, would be a departure from the familiar sunny soccer fields in San Diego that she grew up on. After proving to herself on Senior Day that a nagging back injury was under control and her body was ready for the rigors of playing professionally, Michel began to explore what could be next, in search of an opportunity to compete at the next level. She found one some 4,300 miles away in Iceland.
Sauðárkrókur is a small agricultural community of nearly 2,700 persons, the second-largest town on Iceland's north coast. Named for the creek that runs through the land, you're perhaps just as likely to see a pasture full of horses on a walk around the area as you are a crowd full of people. And it's here that Michel is beginning her journey as a professional soccer player with Tindastoll, a team in Iceland's second-tier pro league.
"I talked to Jackie, who I had played with at USD for two years, and she had a connection with this team," said Michel, referring to fellow Torero women's soccer alum (and current teammate) Jackie Altschuld. "And it kind of grew from there."
Michel inked her contract with Tindastoll at the end of February, and planned on shipping off for Iceland at the beginning of April. But like the rest of the world, her plans were put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and everything she had labored to organize for her trip began to unravel.
"It was super stressful," Michel recalled. "I love to be prepared and plan ahead — I had started packing in March because we were supposed to do a preseason team trip to Portugal. But as soon as COVID hit, we didn't know when we were coming out."
After scrapping an April 15 departure date as concerns over the virus grew, Michel circled May 2nd on the calendar, and kept her bags packed. And sure enough, early May provided the veteran goalkeeper the right window to travel across the Atlantic to Iceland — though her itinerary hardly resembled the one she had assembled mere months earlier.
"Logistically it was just hard trying to get flights," Michel said. "We had to rebook flights and talk to the airlines to get refunded… I ended up having to take three separate flights from San Francisco to LA and then LA to Boston, and then Boston to Iceland, because Icelandair was the only flight (to Iceland) every few days. It wasn't like there were flights all day long."
Things only got stranger for Michel once she arrived at her destination. Though Iceland has largely been credited with successfully managing the pandemic — the country never imposed a full lockdown, and the number of active cases current sits near zero — Michel and two of her teammates were required to fully quarantine for two weeks following her arrival in Sauðárkrókur.
"We were all worried about bringing (the virus) to Iceland," Michel admitted. "Because at that point in May, Iceland had had a really good handle on it. Luckily for isolation we already had our apartment set up. I was able to quarantine with Jackie and Marissa (another teammate), and we were all together for two weeks."
Short walks outside when they were unlikely to run into neighbors became the extent of the trio's excitement for 14 days. They were asked to avoid a common hallway for all hours of the day except a select few. Gloves were mandatory as the soccer players touched shared surfaces like their apartment complex door, teammates brought them food, and they got in small workouts when they could. Michel, who taped up a team picture and dedicated herself to learning each of her new teammates' names during that downtime, credits it as an unconventional, but effective way to acclimate to a new environment.
But once they emerged from isolation, Michel and Altschuld, who traveled together, discovered a very different reality than the one they had left behind in Southern California. As restrictions and guidelines to stop the spread of the virus abounded in the United States, Iceland was returning to a sense of normalcy.
"It was just such a different culture shift with the awareness and people being afraid," Michel said. "Icelandic people aren't so much afraid as Americans are. People aren't taking toilet paper off the shelves; it's definitely two different worlds between what's happening in the US and what's happening here."
Which set the stage for Michel to get back to the thing that had brought her to that chilly locale in the first place: soccer.
Teams in Tindastoll's league, known to locals simply as "Division One," battle for the top two spots in the standings that earn clubs a promotion to the premiere pro soccer league in the nation, the Pepsi League, or "Pepsi-deild karla." A third-place finish by Tindastoll in 2019 has the team hungry for more, and with the beginning of their 2020 season fast approaching, Michel figures to be at the center of it all as the team's starting goalkeeper alongside a strong contingent of returning players from last season.
"It took time," Michel said of settling into a rhythm with her new club after a month of travel and quarantine. "But I feel after our practice games we've been able to connect both on and off the field. So soccer-wise, I'm feeling confident going into this weekend for our first games."
Like Michel mentioned, Tindastoll's season is set to begin this upcoming weekend (June 13). Their 18-game campaign will run through the beginning of October, playing once or twice a week. Though the timing of schedule has been condensed due to the pandemic, the total number of games — and Tindastoll's goal of a first-place finish — will remain the same.
"Confidence is high," Michel added regarding her squad's aspirations of a championship and promotion to Iceland's top league, which would mark the first in team history. "I just want to grow and connect with the team and learn a new style of play. I'm hoping that we don't just finish second and get promoted, I'm hoping we win the whole league."
But regardless of how Michel and Tindastoll fare this season, it's likely that the goalkeeper will take more away from her journey than just what occurs between the lines. Having never traveled to Europe before, nor been away from home for a significant amount of time like she is now, Michel is relishing the chance to forge her own path and immerse herself in a new environment. She's spending her free time coaching a youth soccer team, and has enjoyed being around the farming community.
"It's definitely a new experience, but I am beyond blessed and just surprised by how much I love it here and how welcoming the team in Sauðárkrókur is — it's such a family vibe," Michel said. "The sunsets are beautiful, they just have mountains and waterfalls and natural hot springs. It's really just so different from San Diego, but that's been really cool."
Michel's new home venue for soccer, Sauðárkróksvöllur, is over 4,000 miles away from Torero Stadium, where she made a name for herself as one of the WCC's top goalkeepers. The humble field borders an icy sea rather than Mission Bay, and has panoramic views of green, sometimes snow-capped mountains rather than the familiar palm trees of Linda Vista. But the goalie hasn't forgotten where she came from.
"I'm thankful for USD and for how much they've poured into me," Michel said. "Being able to come out here, I do give a lot of that to USD and my coaches and athletic trainers; people that helped me to get to where I am. I just hope that I can be an encouragement to those growing up and those watching USD, showing that it's possible for anyone to go anywhere if you put your mind to it."
