Following in your parents’ footsteps can be common for many people; Amit Cohen understands that very well.

Raised in Eilat, Israel, Cohen has been playing soccer for as long as she can remember. It was her father, Rafi, who played as a goalkeeper for 26 years until 2013, including 43 appearances with the Israeli senior national team, who inspired her to play the sport.

“That’s what he did for a living so everything [basically started] from him,” Cohen said. “In Israel, he’s like a big person in soccer so it’s a lot for me and I feel like I had the best person to learn from everything about soccer.”

Joining the Israeli Women’s National Team Academy at the age of 14, Cohen went through the ranks and she earned the chance to represent the senior national team in 2019. She appeared in six games during the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup qualifying cycle.

“That is where I started to play more seriously in soccer, with the national team and I did two training [sessions] a day, so this is where I started,” Cohen said. 

Cohen made the decision to come to the United States to attend FAU in 2020 because she wanted to live in a place where she could feel comfortable.

“I talked with the coaches, and for the first conversation I had with them, I felt like they wanted me there and they made me feel like I’m trying to make them feel like I’m coming home,” Cohen said. “I want to be near a successful team, I want to be with the kind of people that care about me as a person and me as a player. That’s why I came to FAU, because of how they make me feel.”

Cohen’s time with the team has been fun as they have experienced a lot together.

“As a team, we try to make it the best we can. We had a lot of games and all that I remember is the girls on the team, so it was really good and I feel like we’re all connected to each other,” Cohen said. “I come from a different place but they welcomed me and they made me feel like part of them.”

During the Spring 2021 season, Cohen started in six of the team’s 11 games as she earned three clean sheets and was selected to be on Conference USA’S All-Freshman team for her performances.

“I’m glad I succeeded in getting three games with a clean sheet, which was very important for me and for the team,” Cohen said. “I was very excited to get the All-Freshman team, I think it was one of the goals that I made to myself before I started the spring season that I [wanted] to be in the [All-Freshman] team and try to get as much games as I can in a clean sheet, and I’m happy that I could do that and help the team.”

Despite suffering a quarterfinal exit in the C-USA tournament in the spring, Cohen is excited to see what happens in the fall.

“I feel that this fall, we can try to do better than we did in the spring and I think we can have a great team and I think that coach [Patrick Baker] will bring more new players that I’m so excited to meet and to play with,” Cohen said. “I’m sure we will do good and we will get better.”

Cohen’s goal after college is to go pro because it’s her dream. Thanks to FAU, she sees the opportunity for that dream to come to fruition.

“I feel it’s like a good place that I can grow up from and go to play pro after that,” Cohen said. “This is my goal and I’m hoping I’ll be able to reach it and get there.”

Richard Pereira is the Sports Editor for the University Press. For information regarding this or other stories, email [email protected] or tweet him @Rich26Pereira.