Pays your dues and reap the rewards: UNC’s Bella Sember

When junior forward Bella Sember decided to play for the UNC women’s soccer program under Coach Anson Dorrance, she agreed to a multitude of sacrifices in order to become the best version of herself on-and-off the field. For Sember, nothing has come easy during her first three seasons at UNC. 

Sember indirectly affirmed the old adage, “paying your dues,” is an expression that takes form at the highest level of women’s collegiate soccer, especially at a school that expects to be in championship contention each year. 

“I never had thought I would be in that situation honestly, because I have gone through a lot of hardships here,” said Sember. “And I didn’t always get the most playing time that I wanted or the most opportunities or haven’t scored the most goals or whatever. So, it's always been a focus of how can I get myself to where I want to be.”

Although Sember has only started one game for the Tar Heels in three years, her hard work and long experience has earned recognition from her teammates as she was recently elected a spring captain, a title that will conceivably lead to an official captain position and a spot on the starting XI next fall.

But to get the full story, we have to wind back to before Sember committed to playing for UNC.

Sember, a native of Long Island, N.Y., was a women’s soccer star in high school after getting experience playing club with NYCFC and being a member of the Youth and Women’s national team. 

Sember’s skill level was detected early on by Dorrance and his coaching staff when Sember attended a College ID camp with UNC while she was in middle school.

“And she ripped it up. Compared to a lot of the other girls in the camp, she was easily the best player,” said Dorrance. “She was aggressive. She was strong. Her technical capacity was at an incredibly high level. And it was a no brainer. We wanted her from Day One.”

It was from this point on that Sember had been made a priority for the Tar Heels. So when Sember officially got an offer to play for the best women’s soccer program in the country, it was an easy decision.

However, this would be the last easy thing Sember has done since arriving at UNC.

“I remember coming into UNC and thinking that I was this great soccer player that was amazing, and I quickly realized that’s not the case at all,” said Sember. “My ceiling is so much higher. So it was difficult, but I wouldn’t change it for the world… Once you hit the pro level, no one’s there to be like, ‘You got it, get back up and keep going.’ You got to do that for yourself.”

Her freshman year, Sember played a total of 12 out of 18 games, while playing just around 250 minutes, equivalent to playing a little more than two full matches. The most startling stat from Sember’s first year is that she only had three shots on goal as a forward whose key responsibility is to score and assist on goals. 

Needless to say, Sember was in Dorrance’s dog pound her first year.

Her sophomore year, Sember took a step forward, playing in almost twice as many games and essentially doubling her total minutes played. Even though she was still coming off the bench as a reserve, Sember had proven her worth to be in a consistent rotation. 

“How can I stay in it mentally and also stay in it physically in an environment where you’re not getting starter treatment? And I think that is something that I’m super proud of more than the goals or increasing my minutes,” Sember said.

Sember started the first game of her junior season against Penn State, her first start of her career, but fell back into a role coming off the bench afterwards. As good as she was technically, Sember still had to take another step to get to a starting level in the eyes of Coach Dorrance.

“The areas she’s got to improve is she’s got to become a better header. She’s got to play a more consistent defense. She’s got to be a little bit fitter,” said Dorrance.

Nonetheless, Sember believes continuing to bring a spark off the bench in a reserve role as her junior season endured was a positive, not a negative. 

“It’s always kind of been in the back of my mind, ‘What could I have accomplished if they decided to just play me anyway?’” said Sember. “Which I’m really glad they didn’t because I think if I had been handed a starting role, or even a reserve role, I don’t think I would get to the level of player that I am right now.”

Sember’s junior campaign looked all too similar to her previous two seasons, mediocre at best. That was, until the NCAA women’s soccer tournament began, when Sember may have finally made a name for herself. 

After facing an early deficit against Towson in the first round, Sember made a nice in-and-out move from outside the box to create just enough space to rip a shot on the ground with her left foot that skipped right past the keeper into the net. Sember’s goal opened the floodgates for the Tar Heels as they were able to put in two more to win 3-1. 

Sember can attest it was the hard-nosed mentally she had developed over the past three years to be able to come off the bench and score a goal on the biggest stage in women’s collegiate soccer. 

“As someone who doesn’t get as much playing time, I feel like the starters have a little bit of that leeway, whereas they can make a mistake… But I think as a reserve coming into the game—not always starting—if you make a mistake, you don’t have that kind of fallback, so you have to be ready to go,” said Sember.

Nevertheless, it was in the Round of 16 of the NCAA tournament that Sember’s career had finally hit a climax. The Tar Heels had traveled to Texas Tech for a spot in the quarterfinals on the line, and the game had remained at a stalemate for 72 minutes. And then… bedlam.

“I think that was always kind of meant to happen, looking back,” said Sember. “I just felt when it was happening, it just felt like something natural, like I was supposed to be doing that. And this was supposed to be happening. So it was honestly a dream come true.”

So what exactly was that “dream come true?”

After receiving the ball just inside the penalty area, Sember took a touch with the same left foot she used to score the goal in the game against Towson, and sent a screamer into the top right corner of the net to score the game’s only goal in a 1-0 victory,

Although the Tar Heels fell to BYU in the following tournament game, Sember had finally made her presence known after three long years, with a fourth and final season still on deck. 

“I’ve had every opportunity to just kind of give up and be like, ‘This isn’t the place for me.’ Or just kind of settle into the background,” said Sember. “And I think I was able to kind of pick myself back up when nobody even knew, and get myself to where I want to be. And I’m still not there yet, but I have one more season.”

So, has Sember finished paying her dues? 

Is Sember finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel?

I suppose that’s why so many people are engrossed and captivated by sports. Because no one knows the answers to these questions, not even Sember herself. All Sember knows is what has transpired, and what she can control during her last hurrah.