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Natalie Dierickx didn’t always play soccer between the goalposts.

While growing up, she was one of her team’s top scorers until the squad was short of a goalkeeper one season. She was taller than her junior high teammates and agreed to give the position a shot.

“I ended up being good at it and stuck with it,” said Dierickx, now 21, with a laugh over the phone as she traveled with her Western Washington University team on the bus from Bellingham toward a match against St. Martin’s University in Lacey on Sept. 27.