Mira Houck is a redshirt sophomore midfielder going into her second season starting for the Mavericks. She spent her first collegiate year with rival Metro State-Denver (MSUD) before transferring to Colorado Mesa University (CMU).
Houck was introduced to soccer at age three, when her dad coached her team. She found a passion for the game and played for her school and club teams throughout middle school. Houck actually played for current head coach Megan Remec during her club years.
“I have known Mira since 2013 and have coached her, in some capacity, almost every year since then. Mira is, above all else, a really great person. She’s well-liked by all her teammates because she’s hard-working and a great leader. She’s been a captain on every team she’s ever been on, throughout high school and college, which is extraordinary to have so many diverse groups of teammates find you a leader. She’s also a winner. Mira has scored game-winning goals in championship games multiple times. She’s a key piece to our team and our success,” Remec said.
Houck expressed her fondness of her high school play, but she faced hardship her senior year when she tore her ACL after only getting to play in a couple games that season. Undeterred, Houck looked to join her longtime coach again in college when Remec was an assistant coach for Maverick foe MSUD..
“By then, I had already committed to Metro State in Denver. Luckily, they let me keep playing there, or at least be around the team. So I went there and honestly, it just really didn’t work out. Their school was great and everything, but just the team aspect was not exactly what I was looking for,” Houck said.
Houck, an elementary education major, entered the transfer portal after her redshirt year at MSUD in 2019. CMU was already her second school choice coming out of high school, because of its relative close proximity to her home and the good reputation of its education program. Houck also got word that Remec would be CMU’s new coach that season, which only made the decision easier.
Houck had to sit out during the COVID-19 altered Spring 2020 season, due to inter-conference transfer rules. She burst onto the scene in her first year playing since high school, however.
She started 18 games and recorded five points and two game winning goals, the first also being her first collegiate goal in a 2-0 win versus Black Hills State University. As fate would have it, Mira netted her second game winner against her old team, MSUD, in a hard fought 1-0 game last October.
“There was no better feeling. Obviously, it’s great to score against any team, but that one was like ‘if I’m going to score in any game, it has to be this one’,” Houck said.
Houck joins redshirt junior defender Michaela Dangler and redshirt junior midfielder Mikayla Eccher as the team’s captains this season.
“She is a natural leader and has fit into the role of a captain since she first transferred here from Metro. She is the definition of a leader who demands only what she can do herself. She has also helped [Michaela] and I be able to have those difficult conversations with teammates when necessary,” Eccher said. “Mira is one of the most genuine people I know, and she always finds a way to spread joy.”
Houck has lodged an assist and eight shots so far through the first six games this season. Houck, who still has two more seasons of eligibility after this year, will be a foundational piece of the team for the foreseeable future.
At the time of writing the women’s soccer team is 2-3-1. Their next home game will be on Sept. 23 against Colorado State University-Pueblo at 7 p.m. at the Community Hospital Unity field.
