The Fire Within
How a Walk-On Keeper Became a Champion, Then a Hero
Alex Semadeni
It was the spring of 2018, and Boise State Soccer was set to face Washington State in an exhibition match. Junior goalkeeper Tara Fisher, a walk-on from Eagle River, Alaska, was set to start in the match. After serving as a backup keeper for her first three seasons, she was eager to showcase her opportunity as the starter in the net during the spring season ahead of her final year.
Bronco goalkeeper coach Ed Moore was out of town recruiting and wasn’t present for the contest, so then-first-year assistant coach, Max Weber, who was only hired a couple weeks prior, was tasked with warming her up.
Weber was lined up outside the penalty box spraying balls. After two balls, Fisher yelled at Weber to kick harder. He loaded up for his third attempt, but it still wasn’t up to her standard. Weber decided to give it everything he had on the next kick.
“I tell myself I’m going to let one rip,” Weber recalls. “Well I let it rip alright, but my hamstring and groin ripped as well.”
Weber couldn’t walk for three weeks, having torn his hamstring and hip flexor during the warmup.
“It was a low moment for me professionally, but it tells you who Tara is,” Weber said. “She wanted me to make it harder for her. She had spent three years preparing to be in the starting position ahead of her senior season. That game was her basically taking the starting job. And she was ready, which was why she was so diligent and focused.”
Fisher, who spent those three seasons behind legendary Bronco goalkeeper Janelle Flores, went on to have arguably the greatest individual season a Boise State goalkeeper has had in program history. She won 13 games as a senior and helped lead the Blue and Orange to a Mountain West regular season title. Along the way, she recorded 72 saves and recorded a then-program record 10 shutouts.
Her journey from walk-on to superstar showcases her natural determination, perseverance and mental toughness. Those qualities and life lessons have stuck with her to this day in her role as a firefighter for the Caldwell Fire Department.
Fisher is one of two Bronco soccer alumni who currently serve as firefighters in the Treasure Valley. The trials and tribulations required by a student-athlete at the collegiate level served as a helpful prerequisite to the firefighting profession, where each day offers a new challenge.
Though the Boise State soccer to firefighter pipeline might seem unique to some, those that have involvement in both programs are quick to see how they intersect.
“What's been really cool to hear from the actual firefighters is how Boise State athletes are integrating themselves into the fire department,” Boise State Soccer head coach Jim Thomas said. “There’s absolutely parallels. We talk a lot about the tightness of a team operating as an elite unit together. Just like them, we’re also trying to center around a common goal and drive towards that over an extended period of time. There’s a lot of commonalities with how hard you have to work, the desire to want to grow, and I think there are many parallels between the two. Certainly the way that we run our program mirrors a lot of what they're pulling off there.”
WORKING AS A WALK-ON
As a high school student, Fisher knew that if she wanted to leave her home state, it would be through soccer. Alaska provides a lot of affordable in-state tuition options, so her parents made it clear that if she wanted to attend college out of state, it would be at her own expense.
Fisher, a lauded goalkeeper in her high school career, wrestled with the decision. Her biggest hang-up was the unknown. Alaska doesn’t provide much exposure for college coaches and wasn’t sure how aggressively she should pursue a collegiate career. She received a couple of offers from Division III schools, but the cost made her hesitate.
“Growing up in Alaska, you have no way to compare yourself skill-level wise,” Fisher said. “I had no clue if I was any good. It's like that big fish in a little pond feeling. I was good for Alaska standards, but was I good enough to play at the collegiate level? I had no clue.”
While in high school, her club soccer team visited the Treasure Valley for a President’s Cup tournament, and she instantly fell in love with Boise and its college-town vibe. From there, she decided to attend one of Boise State Soccer’s summer camps, where she met some of the incoming freshmen. The camp gave her confidence that she could compete and she decided to take up the program’s offer of a walk-on spot.
I got that opportunity to play for a school where the city loves their school. They pour their hearts into that school. We always had such a good crowd. Going and playing at other schools, you realize how much love Boise has for their college. Yeah, I was definitely in a city that I fell in love with, and it was an opportunity to play Division I soccer.”Tara Fisher
Arriving on campus as a walk-on, Fisher knew she had an uphill battle if she ever wanted to see the pitch. She was prepared to work hard and compete, but even with that expectation in her head, she was still surprised at the pace of the game.
“It was humbling and validating at the same time, which is an interesting feeling,” she said. “I felt like I belonged, but I knew I had to make significant improvements and fast. I feel like I quickly earned the backup spot but I wasn’t satisfied with the level that I was at. I also had to make an adjustment to the pace of the game. The level of pace was so much faster than what I was used to.”
Fisher played sparingly her first three seasons with the program. She tallied seven games her freshman season and six games each during her sophomore and junior seasons. She played behind Flores, who had one of the best four-year stretches as a goalkeeper in program history. Fisher notched a 4-9-1 record over her first three seasons, recording 59 total saves.
“Mentally, those three seasons were very challenging,” Fisher said. “My freshman year was all rainbows and butterflies because I was so excited. I earned a travel spot and I got to visit places I had never been before. The excitement kind of wore off a little bit my sophomore year. After I had gotten that chance to play, I felt like I had found my groove. I had caught up a little bit to the skill level, but I got a lot less playing time my sophomore and junior year than my freshman year. I was behind a really good goalkeeper so I understood, but it was still tough.”
Though deep down she felt that Boise was her home, she admitted that she considered leaving. Known as being one of, if not the, hardest worker on the team, Fisher felt like she was improving. She could feel the long hours paying off, but the hard work wasn’t corresponding with an uptick in playing time.
“It was definitely a humbling experience,” Fisher said. “The players that get to play, they get this really nice experience where they get to enjoy the games, which can break up the mundane stuff. When you’re not playing, you’re doing all the grunt work, you’re doing the extra practice and that’s it. Especially as a goalie, you're the one that's out there in the freezing cold, diving all around, putting your body on the line during all the extra practices. Mentally, it was very challenging.
It was during these three years that she learned a lesson that has stuck with her to this day.
“Those seasons were hard, but you learn a lot about putting the team first,” Fisher said. “That's probably the biggest lesson I've learned from that experience and from not starting for three years. It's not always about you. It's about the whole, it's about the collective. It's about the team. I did care if I was playing and I wanted that opportunity, but I knew it wasn’t what was best for the team.”
She attacked the spring season before her senior year with the same preparation as always, ready to fill the shoes of the legendary goalkeepers ahead of her. She wanted to not only prove to herself that she could be the team’s starting keeper, but also wanted to help the team achieve its goals.
Her hard work paid off. She had one of, if not the best, individual season for a goalkeeper in program history. She tallied a 13-4-3 record, and helped lead the Broncos to a share of the regular season title. Her 13 wins in a season tied a program-record, and her 0.86 goals allowed average was second in a single season in program history. She only gave up eight goals over the course of Mountain West play, and her seven shutouts in MW play was a conference record.
“If I ever talk about my college soccer career, it’s always about my senior year,” Fisher said. “When I look back, it definitely feels like that's what I had worked so long for. There were a lot of not great moments in those three years, a lot of really low moments for sure. But my senior year was the cultivation of all the hard work, and it paid off.”
Weber believes she is the perfect example of hard work paying off.
“Her journey to get to be a starting goalkeeper in the last year of her career, you don't see that in the game anymore,” Weber said. “People leave and she didn’t. She trusted in the process. By the time she was a senior she was prepared to take the reins and was a championship winner in her final year. She led a championship team because she played like a champion goalkeeper. She was absolutely tremendous.”
“I learned a lot about myself,” Fisher added. “Looking back, those three years of work really made that senior year so much more meaningful because I knew the effort that I had put in. I knew how hard I had worked for that senior year. So it felt a lot more special.”
SO…WHAT’S NEXT?
After her collegiate career ended, Fisher went through a bit of an identity crisis. Soccer had been a guiding force throughout her entire life up to that point, and without it, she was left feeling a bit aimless.
“If you talk to any athlete, that period when your sport ends is probably the lowest point in any athlete’s life,” Fisher said. “It’s just miserable. Lucky for me, I found some good people that helped me find some ways to focus all that emotion I was feeling.”
For Fisher, that meant joining a CrossFit gym. It was at the gym where she met some friends that were wildland firefighters. After conversations, she joined the United State Forest Service, where she served as a wildland firefighter.
Wildland fire was a perfect career to help provide direction. However, her end goal was always to make the jump to structure fires, as she preferred the more stable schedule it provided over the seasonal nature of the wildland job. The question was just how many seasons she was going to do.
The process of joining a city fire department is rigorous. To start, recruits are sent to a 16-week academy program. The boot-camp-esque-course focuses on all the inner workings of the firefighting profession: how to pull a hose, how to catch a hydrant, how to respond to a structure fire, what to do at a structure fire, the basics of fire behavior, building construction, the difference between offensive and defensive firefighting tactics, and building ventilation.
Following that, you go through a year-long probation period. During this timeframe, trainees are a part of all the firefighter operations, but are assessed every three-months to see if they are ready for a full-time position.
All the while, there is still a physical component to the job that must be maintained.
“It’s a physically demanding job,” Fisher said. “It takes a lot, especially being a person of smaller-stature. I can’t just muscle my way through things. I have to learn the strategy of something, like forceful entry for example.”
Fisher has been with the Caldwell Fire Department for four years now, and is excelling quickly. Recently, she joined the rope technical rescue team. She’s also gotten more involved with the academies, where she trains new recruits and orients them to the lifestyle. Her former head coach isn’t surprised at all by the success she’s seeing in the field. Recently, she completed a separate training that allows her to drive a firetruck.
Tara is highly driven, not afraid of the hard work, and is self-motivated. She has a unique desire to seek out a hard challenge as well. She’s turned off by things that are not that hard, and being a firefighter is a very, very hard profession to be in. And certainly, she is climbing the ranks very, very quickly. So that aspiration to become the best version of herself is really serving her well. I think that's why she's doing so well in the fire department.Boise State Soccer Head Coach Jim Thomas
Fisher credits Boise State with helping forge successful habits that have translated into her adult life.
“When I think back to Boise State, those are definitely the pieces that I pull from the most,” Fisher continued. “I learned how to be a part of a team and do something that’s more important than me. The biggest thing is the humility and the work ethic. You need to have a strong drive to succeed in this career. You need to always be finding ways to improve, show up ready to work even if you’re dead tired. You have to push through that. Each day is what you make of it. I definitely learned that drive during my collegiate career.”
EMBRACING THE CONNECTION
Thomas, the winningest coach in Boise State soccer history, is inspired by the post-soccer career Fisher has created for herself. He considers her path a perfect use of her skill set, and recognizes the importance of teamwork and camaraderie that the heroes on the front line require.
Inspired by his former players, Thomas reached out to the area fire department to see if the team could undergo a team-building exercise. Prior to the season, he brought the team to a site set up by the Nampa Fire Department. The team underwent a series of four stations that firefighters might encounter, with the goal being for the team to understand the importance of the profession while comprehending the communication and teamwork required.
“We're always looking for unique ways for our players to experience the community in the world, to maybe expand their scope of what they see,” Thomas said. “We all assume that we're going to get looked after by people or provided services like the fire department, but we don't really understand what goes into that. And obviously they're a uniquely tight operating team, the kind of team that we want to become. So there's so much for us to learn from them as an actual athletics group as well. It’s fun, and I think we’re sparking more interest among our team about the profession.”
From the Pitch to the Firehouse! Thank you, Nampa Fire Department! ??#BleedBlue | #WhatsNext pic.twitter.com/8cbOnK3ALB
— Boise State Soccer (@BroncoSportsSOC) August 4, 2025
Fisher concurs with the sentiment. When recounting her collegiate career, she consistently recalls the shared memories with her teammates forging bonds that last to this day. That teamwork translates perfectly into the camaraderie of a fire crew.
“Doing this job, we can be a part of a situation where you’re going into something and you have to know that your crew can live up to the same standards that you’ve set for yourself,” Fisher said. “As far as being a female in that kind of work environment, I don’t think there is a better background than college athletics. You have already proven that you have the ability to handle those stressful situations, proven that you have a drive, and proven that you can be a part of something that is bigger than yourself.”
Thomas beams with pride when talking about Fisher and what she’s been able to accomplish. He credits her with becoming a role model that each generation of his players can look up to.
“To see Tara make the kind of physical sacrifice, emotional sacrifice, all that she’s putting on the line for us to be safe is just incredible,” Thomas said. “The willingness to give to something greater than you is something that's really hard to find opportunities for as a young person. We want to instill that message in our program. To see our players go into the community and make it better, that’s really what we’re all about. The power and the intelligence and the strength of the women that come out of Boise State Women's Soccer is incredible.”
Fisher hopes the experience provides opportunities for the team to explore post-graduation plans in firefighting.
“I don’t think there’s a better background for fire service than collegiate athletics,” Fisher said. “A large proportion of our department are ex-athletes. It's a very applicable background to have here. Especially being a female, you have to meet all the same standards that the men do. That’s exactly the way it should be, and you have to be able to handle that kind of intense environment.
“I want more women, especially female athletes, to consider careers such as fire service,” Fisher said. “I want a lot more female athletes to consider this type of career. It’s such an incredible career and I personally have found so much purpose and meaning in this career. I was very lost after soccer was done, and I think that’s relatable to a lot of athletes. It’s up to them to create a future for themselves, but I think most athletes gain a lot of tools playing soccer.”
Thomas agrees.
“Certainly going into what is very customarily a male-oriented environment and doing as well as she’s doing is impressive,” he said. “She’s setting an example for other women that they can also do it. This is what she was doing as a student-athlete through her journey on the field. Now she’s doing it for everyone, including me, in her current role.”