POCATELLO − Daphne Egelhoff was close enough to touch it.

But she realized something: she wasn't good enough yet.

When the senior Idaho State center back reached the competitive world of club soccer, she wasn't always the first choice. At Albion SC Las Vegas, she had been put on the B team, allowed to train with the top group, but not to travel with them or play in their games.

So she went to work. She trained an hour every day — running, juggling, dribbling around cones, shooting — with one goal: make the A team.

"That pushed me so hard," Egelhoff said. "Being in that environment where I was so close, but I wasn't there, and I wasn't good enough at the time. That just pushed me, and I was like, ‘I am not satisfied with this. I want to be good enough. I want to be the best.’"

Those days of training by herself, paid off. She made the A team.

"I really wanted to play at the highest level," Egelhoff said. "So I was able to make it onto the higher team, and that was like a really big accomplishment for me."

For Egelhoff, a native of Henderson, Nevada, soccer had been everything from the start. She first kicked a ball at 3 and never looked for anything else.

"Soccer has always been it," Egelhoff said. "I think I tried t-ball when I was like 5, but I was just never interested in anything else. I always just came back to soccer."

The work did not stop once she got there. It carried into her high school career at Coronado High School, where she joined the Cougars after sitting out her freshman year because of league rules.

Her junior season ended in the 5A state championship game against Faith Lutheran, and Coronado won it 1-0.

"It was like feeling like you're on top of the world," Egelhoff said. "We had confidence like the whole season too, because we were just a really good team. So … we were on top the whole time, and then we still finished through and won. So it was just like awesome because we were really successful the whole way through, and it was great friendships that I built."

Her senior season led to the same game and the same opponent, with a different result.

"That was heartbreaking," she said. "I knew that I still had so much soccer to look forward to in college. I think it would be different if I wasn't playing in college. Obviously, I was really upset, but I knew that I still had a lot of chances to keep playing and keep playing."

Across those two seasons. Egelhoff helped lead the Cougars to a combined record of 43-3-3, two state championship appearances and one trophy. Losing wasn't on her agenda.

But where she was going next, losing was all they were doing.

In the four seasons before Egelhoff arrived, Idaho State won seven of 63 matches.

Idaho State head coach Dustin Downey was in his second season, and the program needed a refresh.

Egelhoff was not keen on staying in Nevada. She looked elsewhere and did not find a connection with any of the schools except one.

"With Dustin, he showed like so much interest in me from the beginning," she said. "He cared about me as a person so much, which I didn't really find in other coaches."

With the hunger to win and a genuine love for the game, she chose Idaho State and the chance to help turn the program around.

"He wanted to build a better program than in years past, and I wanted to be a part of that," she said. "I wanted to make an impact right when I came in."

She made good on it, and has been a fixture in the Bengals' backline since she arrived on campus.

"Daphne has been a mainstay on our lineup since her freshman season," Downey said. "She's been a loyal and committed student-athlete to Idaho State University, and because of that, has really developed as a player and leader of this program."

Her time in the orange and black started with a position change. Growing up, she played forward and scored the goals, which is where her No. 23 comes from — a nod to former U.S. women's national team forward Christen Press.

At Idaho State, she was moved to outside back, and in time to the middle of the field and the center back role. She has logged 45 appearances, 2,942 minutes and one goal, and grown into one of the team's leaders, named a captain for this season.

"As I got older and as I got stronger and taller and better in the air, my skill set is just well suited as a defender to kind of try to keep the ball out of our net, keep the ball out of our box," she said.

She has embraced the move, using her leadership as a catalyst for her play.

"I have a loud, confident voice in the back, and I can see everything when I look forward," Egelhoff said. "I'm able to help direct our team from the back, which I think is really helpful."

She has been a natural there. Her instincts, her success on the ball and her ability to read the game have benefited both her and the team.

Where she has grown the most, though, is as a leader.

"She's a model student-athlete who has accepted the challenges that come with being a leader and captain, but she's excelling at her new role," Downey said. "Having her as a captain and a leader on our backline will play a huge role this season and I believe will impact on team success in a positive manner."

She has taken the captaincy as a responsibility to her teammates.

"My biggest role that I've been focusing on this year as captain is uplifting my teammates and just instilling confidence in them," Egelhoff said. "Just helping us work together as one whole group to a common goal."

The work started when she first kicked a soccer ball, a girl in Nevada who loved the game more than anything. Now every time she laces up her cleats and pulls on her jersey, she is playing the game she worked this hard to reach her dream.

"I'm so fortunate to have played for 17 years and still have so much love for the game," she said. "It's a miracle that I haven't burnt out yet."

The girl who was training obsessively to still play the game she loves is doing it and now wants to inspire others to love the game, but also love the people you’re playing the game with.

"I just want people to realize that it's possible to find that balance of being a competitor, but also being compassionate and empathetic and kind and instilling confidence in each other," Egelhoff said. "Now that I've kind of cracked the code, I feel like I just want to be able to teach other people and inspire other people that they can do it too."