Goal Keeper

The team banquet following WVU’s 2015 women’s soccer season featured the normal announcements of team awards, such as Most Improved Player and Offensive MVP.

When the much-anticipated Team MVP was announced, the recipient wasn’t the leading scorer or the All-American defender. The members of the team had voted for senior midfielder Amanda Hill to receive the honor.

Today, Hill is known as Dr. Amanda McWreath, thanks to her master’s degree in animal physiology from WVU and a doctor of veterinary medicine diploma from University of California - Davis — not to mention her 2018 wedding to high-school sweetheart Evan. He’s also a Mountaineer, having studied environmental sciences while earning both a bachelor’s and a master’s in Morgantown.

While playing soccer as an undergrad, she was in the starting lineup for all 88 of WVU’s matches. That included a senior campaign in which she tallied three game-winning goals and played stout defense for the squad that set a school record with 15 shutouts. The squad finished 19-3-1 and won its fourth-straight Big 12 title.

Head coach Nikki Izzo-Brown wasn’t surprised when her teammates voted McWreath the MVP. She said the recognition was “only fitting, as she was a two-time team captain, a four-year starter and our team’s quarterback those four years.”

That’s because as a freshman, McWreath volunteered for the Hearts of Gold Service Dogs Program, where she was introduced to the many ways dogs can be trained.

She learned of “the human-animal bond, psychology and training. We trained dogs that would eventually be placed with veterans, whether for PTSD or mobility support. That is where everything began for me.”

Soon she was training others, including at local prisons. “There are inmates who are veterans who train service dogs. I taught a class to them and just fully immersed myself in it.” She’d been pursuing a degree in exercise physiology, but “I added animal science to it right away. It took all of 10 seconds for me to realize that’s what I wanted to do.”

With her adjusted career aspirations, she received a bachelor’s degree with the double major and then stayed in Morgantown to study animal physiology in grad school. Next was a move to California to become a veterinarian. She received her DVM degree in 2023.

Izzo-Brown pointed out that McWreath could “easily” have followed the path of many of her teammates and played professionally. That wasn’t her calling, though.

“I absolutely love soccer, but when I fell into the world of animal science, I found such a passion and a sense of purpose that even soccer couldn’t match,” McWreath said. She’s now in her second year at the sprawling Cheat Lake Animal Hospital on Fairchance Road in Morgantown.

McWreath is one of 15 veterinarians on the staff. With veterinarians in high demand, the Pennsylvania native could have gone anywhere to start her practice.

“West Virginia feels like home to me,” she said. “I want to give back to the place where I lived during the most formative years of my life. West Virginia was where I grew and became who I am.”

As the founder of Hearts of Gold, Dr. Jean Meade, a WVU medical school grad and owner of Cheat Lake Animal Hospital, has known McWreath for the past decade. “I’ve watched how the work ethic, team spirit and focus from her athletic past have developed. I always wanted Amanda to come back here and join our practice.”

Debra Humberson, the animal hospital’s office manager, added, “Amanda is so approachable and so professional. She always makes our clients and their pets feel at ease.”

During McWreath’s first few weeks at the hospital, she performed an emergency C-section to save the life of a dog about to give birth. “I got to save the mom, but also bring new life into the world,” she recalled. “That’s exciting, but then I got to hand those puppies and mom back to their human. It was such a magical experience.

“Almost every day, I feel like I’m reminded of why I do what I do.”

Today Amanda and Evan live in Morgantown with their son Maverick, dogs Otter and Daisy and a cat named Lou. Every time there’s an event involving alumni of the women’s soccer team, she’s an active participant. Of course, before she was healing ailing pets, McWreath was assisting her teammates on the soccer pitch.

She said she’s grateful for the life lessons she learned as a midfielder on the soccer team and while studying at WVU, including the defeats and the challenges on the playing field. “It was all really important and beneficial to shaping where I am now.”

“Amanda coming back home to Morgantown is a blessing because of the incredible person, professional and server she is to our community,” Izzo-Brown said.