Intercontinental

As Mounds View girls' soccer players trickled off the field after last Friday's practice, one looked over to teammate Anna Porch and said, "Bye Africa, see you [later] at the [football] game."

"See ya," Porch replied with a smile, content in knowing she is unique among her peers yet accepted.

The daughter of missionary parents, Porch was born in Liberia and lived about 12 years in two additional African countries, Guinea and Senegal. She moved to the United States, likely for good, before her freshman year of high school at Concordia Academy in Roseville in 2009. She made another big transition this year by transferring to Mounds View.

"It's probably not as big as coming to a different country, but it's still hard," said Porch, a junior. "I didn't expect it to be easy. I'm the new kid again. But playing sports is one good way to be connected."

Porch discovered soccer in Africa as a sixth-grader. Her first games were played on a smaller cement court with waist-high walls.

"We would play intense soccer on that," Porch said. "People would come out bloody but it was so fun."

She joined an organized team in seventh grade and stayed with the sport after arriving in the United States. She played for two seasons at Concordia Academy and also competed in track and field. As a sophomore she placed 15th in the 1,600-meter race at the Class 1A meet.

"We knew she'd start instantly and make our offense dangerous," Swallen said.

In her season debut against Stillwater last week, Porch played forward and scored the Mustangs' only goal in a 1-1 tie. Though the girls bonded through several preseason team-building activities, Porch's goal served as an unofficial welcome-to-the-team milestone.

"Soccer is a vehicle for finding normalcy," Swallen said. "When I see her with teammates, she fits in."

She also stands apart -- not by choice or out of spite. Teams are collections of individuals and her background is different than most.

Porch attended a school of 500 students in Africa, most of them children of missionaries. She lived in a modern-style home in a desert climate in the city. And she wore "shorts and a T-shirt" almost every day. She wears two necklaces that remind her of home. The brown one is made of coffee beans. The other is made of red, yellow, green, black, blue and white beads, the colors of Africa's flag.

"I say I'm from Africa and people are like, 'Oh, lions and tigers,' and, 'Did you live in a hut?'" Porch said. "I don't really expect them to understand. I tell them I lived in the city and they ask what a city looks like. I tell them there aren't just huts. It's modern. But there's tons of garbage and unfinished building everywhere. It's not pretty."

Porch had some interaction with native Africans but a language barrier -- they speak fluent French -- was hard to overcome. As for wild animals, she saw some camels and monkeys. She misses her friends from the missionary school, though she likely won't return to see them because they will soon leave for colleges in the United States.