Midfielder spent halftime in Africa and Europe

It was only three seconds into her soccer match that 13-year-old midfielder Tafara Pulse felt her heart start to pound rapidly at more than four times its normal rate.

"The referee had literally just blown the whistle to start the game," explains Pulse, who is now 26. "I have no other way to explain it other than I felt super light-hearted. I got straight off the field."

Soon after her first episode, Pulse discovered she suffers from supraventricular tachycardia, a heart complication in which stress causes unexpected heart rate spikes. Her condition, however, did not stop Pulse from becoming one of Seattle University's most decorated veterans of Redhawk soccer.

A two-time Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) Player of the Year, Pulse is among 12 alumni athletes the university selected for Hall of Fame Class of 2010 last month.

Pulse played midfield for Seattle U from 2000 to 2004. By the time she graduated with a degree in international business, she ranked second all-time in assists and fourth all-time in goals at the university.

The Yakima, Wash. native finished high school early and joined the Redhawks' squad at the age of 17. She was a natural leader who "pretty much devoted her life to soccer," says teammate Jill Seeks.

"She was definitely very inspiring," Seeks says. "She was really great at telling you what you needed to be doing on the field if you weren't doing it."

Pulse led the Redhawks to a fifth-place ranking in the West Region of the GNAC, just one spot away from entering NCAA tournament play in 2003.

Even with a torn hamstring, she helped the Redhawks clinch the Division II regional title her senior year during a match against Seattle Pacific University, which had gone undefeated at home for 22 straight games.

"Everyone on the field was giving everything they had," Pulse recalls of the game. "We knew we were going to win. They didn't have a chance."

The Redhawks beat SPU's Falcons 2-0 and became the 2004 Far West regional champions.

But hard-fought soccer seasons like these did not tire out Pulse enough to keep her from embarking on international study abroad programs.

Pulse moved to Alicante, Spain winter quarter of her junior year. She studied Spanish to fulfill the international studies program's second language requirement and went on daily runs up a steep winding path leading to a castle to stay in shape.

Still, her quick turnaround to spring season play, Pulse says, was a little rocky.

"I flew back [from Spain] and we played Gonzaga the next day," she laughs. "I think I had the worst game of my life."

The next year, after ending her final collegiate season with 31 goals and 37 assists, Pulse headed to Lesotho—a small country surrounded by South Africa. She worked through Seattle U's International Development Internship Program with Catholic Relief Services to write three grant proposals for HIV/AIDS education campaigns.

Again, Pulse says, it took her some time to readjust to life in the U.S. after living abroad. Grocery shopping, she says, proved particularly difficult upon both homecomings to the
Pacific Northwest.

"It's like you can't make decisions," she says. "It would take me 45 minutes to buy four things."

Throughout her undergraduate career at Seattle U, one thing that remained constant was the camaraderie she shared with her teammates. In fact, the welcoming nature of the Redhawks she met as a high school recruit was what sold her on Seattle U.

"At one school I visited as a recruit, the girls on the team left another recruit at a gas station and drove away as a joke because they didn't like her," she remembers. "I was like, ‘That could have been me.' I didn't want to play for a team like that."

Pulse, who also ran track at Eisenhower High School, says her family also showed her unparalleled support while she was a student-athlete. Her mother traveled with the team from Canada to Arizona to be in the stands at every one of Pulse's games.

Pulse says her mother, a family doctor, often provided medical assistance to her teammates. On one occasion, she stayed with the team's goalkeeper to ensure her teammate "really got the care she needed" after the keeper had broken her leg.

Since graduating from Seattle U, Pulse has coached high school soccer, traveled to India for a three-month-stint working in advertising for a friend's company and has returned to the field as a midfielder for Seattle Sounders Women. Currently a graduate student at the University of Washington, she is three weeks away from a degree in public administration.

Pulse also spent more than a year working at Starbucks to get health insurance, which helped her afford heart surgery in 2007. She reports her episodes have since decreased, though they have not disappeared entirely.

Pulse says she sees more international travel in her future, but for now she's just eager for the Sounders' first season game against the Fort Collins Force Friday.

"I think we'll have a pretty strong team," she says.

Katie may be contacted at kfarden@su-spectator.com