MTSU soccer’s Emma Pettersen has found her spot again this year with the Blue Raiders, helping put Middle Tennessee in a spot to compete in Conference USA.  

Pettersen, a four-year starter at MTSU, came into the year after missing nearly the entire 2024 season with an injury, looking to use new lessons on the pitch to lead the Raiders.  

The lessons after losing a year to injury is strengthening mental fortitude and analyzing the game better, Pettersen said.  

“I feel like I have nothing to lose,” Pettersen said. “I just give it my all every game and am grateful this season to be able to play.” 

Pettersen slowly came back in the spring and is once again a constant on the field for every game. The senior has played seven full 90-minute games this season and is averaging 81 minutes per game through 14 matches.  

Playing time to this degree puts Pettersen fourth on the team in minutes, trailing only members of the Blue Raiders’ defensive line, positions that play a full 90 minutes across all levels of soccer.  

Emma works hard outside of practice, but what most don’t see is how hard she works in practice every day, and how effective her training transfers over to games, head coach Aston Rhoden said. The numbers show it best, and Pettersen’s training numbers are near the top every day.  

Early in Pettersen’s career at MTSU, the playing style served as a massive learning curve compared to the playing style in Norway and professional play.  

“In terms of soccer, it’s quite a big difference from home,” Pettersen said. “It’s high pace, high tempo very go, go, go. Being able to understand that and learn has been fun…my freshman year, I don’t think I was used to the intensity, I was exhausted.” 

In 40 games over Pettersen’s first three seasons, the forward played only three full games compared to this season, where she has played three full games in a row, two separate times.  

The effort has started to pay off; Pettersen is leading MTSU in goals and is second in CUSA in shots on goal. The Blue Raiders forward also made headlines earlier this season for leading the nation in shot accuracy.  

Halfway through the conference play slate, Middle Tennessee finds themselves at 2-1-1 with seven points in the standings, good enough for seventh place. The first four conference games consisted of three road games, where MTSU went 1-1-1.  

“The games were radically different in terms of how each team played but also in terms of the surface and the environment we played in,” Rhoden said.  

The Blue Raiders played with the same identity, especially for the young players dealing with the stress of an away conference game on turf and grass, Rhoden said.  

Through the first four conference games, Pettersen has, averaged 88 minutes per game with one goal against Western Kentucky to come out with a 1-1 tie.  

The final half of Middle Tennessee’s conference schedule includes three home games against the reigning CUSA champions Florida International, along with New Mexico State and the University of Texas-El Paso. The Blue Raiders will finish on the road against Kennesaw State.  

Rhoden has preached to the group to stay in the moment, taking it moment by moment and not focusing too much on the big picture, Pettersen said. 

“Like most other teams our goal is to win the conference tournament, and I know we are seventh right now, but this conference is so even that even a tie could make a huge difference,” Pettersen said.  

Middle Tennessee’s next game is against Florida International on Sunday, Oct. 12 at 12 p.m. at Dean A. Hayes Track and Soccer Stadium in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.