Lily Harkes comes from a family of champions. The junior midfielder helped take Elon's women's soccer team to the NCAA tournament this spring, and her family is no stranger to that feat. Harkes' two older siblings, Ian and Lauren, as well as her parents have all won conference championships and gone to the NCAA tournament. 
 

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Despite her success and talent, Lily said soccer was not always something she wanted to pursue.
 
I just wanted to start off very young and I actually did not really enjoy soccer at the beginning," she said. "My mom always told me that I would quit every other season and start up again."
 
Cindi and John Harkes, Lily's parents, both played for University of Virginia. John played for the U.S. national team and in Major League Soccer. He currently is the head coach for the Greenville Triumph soccer club. Cindi played professionally in the United States, and overseas for the Sheffield Wednesday Ladies club.
 
Lauren Harkes played at Clemson University and Creighton University. She now coaches in Northern Virginia. Ian Harkes played at Wake Forest. He now plays professionally for the Dundee United soccer club in Scotland.
 
John said although all three Harkes children had their other talents, they all gravitated toward soccer.
 
"We were never enforcing that in our home," he said. "It was just like, whatever you're going to do, we wanted them to be very dedicated about putting the effort in."
 
John said he and Cindi tried to foster a supportive sibling relationship between their children. He said the support continues today.
 
"When they were younger, we made them go to each other's games all the time," he said. "After a couple years of doing that, they were 'Lily's playing it this time and Lauren's at this time. Let's go get the sandwiches.' Everybody started supporting each other all the way through."
 
Lily said although she grew up watching the successes of her parents and siblings, she never felt like she needed to play soccer or take her talents to the next level.
 
"I think that seeing the success of my brother and sister and my parents was something that was a bit daunting," Lily said. "But they have never, ever made me feel pressured and have just always encouraged me to do my own thing, follow my own path, you know, and I think that's what I've done here at Elon."

A family of athletes naturally comes with a competitive atmosphere. Cindi said there's a lot of healthy competition in their home, and Lily said the siblings get that competitiveness from their mom.
 
"We're always trying to out work each other but really just push each other to be better," she said. "It's all out of love and we're just very proud of each other but definitely have a lot of competition going on in the family."
 
The CAA Championship win marked the first NCAA Tournament trip for Elon's women's soccer team. With so much unknown in the fall of 2020, Cindi Harkes said it was just good to be able to see Lily play.
 
"Just to see her out on the field again, has just been so nice," Cindi said. "It is so great for us to see her and then winning the CAA Championship was just icing on the cake."
 
During Lily's first season at Elon, her team was in last place. Just two years later, she joined the championship ranks of her family.
 
"It was an incredible feeling, just such a rewarding experience knowing how much we overcame this year," Lily said. "I think it definitely demanded a certain level of determination and sacrifice, and I'm just very lucky to be part of a team where I really feel at home and they're like my second family."