In the 20 seasons of the women’s soccer program at Youngstown State, no player has come close to accomplishing what Missy LaForet has done for the Penguins. Fittingly, she is first women’s soccer player inducted into the YSU Athletics Hall of Fame.
A native of Ontario, Canada, she was a forward for the Guins from 1996-99. Despite not playing since 1999, she still holds school records for most points (66), goals scored (26), assists (14) and shots (212). She is the only player in school history to score three goals in a game multiple times, and she did it on three occasions.
LaForet also helped the Penguins have success as a group as YSU won five-or-more games in her final three years. That is the longest streak of five-or-more wins campaigns in the program’s history.
As a freshman in 1996, LaForet had 14 points on the year, coming on seven goals. She took a team best 36 shots during the season. LaForet has the distinction of scoring the first goal in the program’s history. On Aug. 31, 1996, LaForet scored YSU’s initial goal in a 3-0 win over Howard. Highlighting the season for the Penguins was a 1-0 win over Pittsburgh.
During the 1997 campaign she was part of one of the highest-scoring teams in school history. She had a school-record 73 shot attempts on the season and registered nine goals. She added five assists and finished with 23 points for the campaign.
In a 5-1 win over Western Illinois, LaForet had the first three-goal game of her career. Later in the campaign, she had two goals in a win over Hiram. During the year she also had goals against Slippery Rock, Muskingum, St. Bonaventure and Eastern Michigan. The program scored 40 goals and 105 points in 1997, which are both school marks. YSU also won six games in a season for the first time in school history.
As a junior in 1998, LaForet led the Penguins in all offensive categories. She had a team-high 44 shots, scored 13 points, had five goals and registered three assists. She scored three goals in a game for the second time in her career in a win over Howard. She scored goals against Malone and Green Bay and added an assist in a 2-1 win over the Phoenix.
During her senior campaign she was named a second-team All-Mid-Continent Conference performer for her efforts. LaForet attempted 59 shots, tallied 16 points, scored five goals and had six assists in her final year. She had the third three-goal game of her career in a win against Westminster and scored against Western Illinois and Morehead State.
At YSU she was a four-time letterwinner, three-time captain and two-time team MVP.
Upon her graduation with a degree in nursing, she worked as an RN at UPMC in Pittsburgh in the liver transplant unit. She is now an RN case manager for Allegiance Health in Jackson, Mich.
Missy and her husband, John Berdiner, have three children: Emma, Noah and Lola.
