University of Minnesota Athletics
Players Mentioned
Soccer Spotlight: Athena Kuehn and Maddie Nielsen
2/20/2020 12:59:00 PM | Soccer
We sat down with rising seniors Athena Kuehn and Maddie Nielsen to learn more about who they are away from the field. We already know that they're impact players and great leaders, but let's learn more!
Gopher Sports: What's your favorite food?
Athena Kuehn: I'm a big Mexican food girl. That's all I eat when I go home. Whenever my family goes out to eat it's always Mexican food.Â
Maddie Nielsen: Greek food. I love Greek food.Â
GS: What's your first soccer memory?
AK: I was always motivated by food so I just remember the snacks. One time this family made Jell-O and it was all these different colors, I can vividly remember it. We had this little league where I lived so it was basically all the kids from school, and it was coed. We would play in tournaments and it was really fun. My dad used to play on the team so he has all his old shirts and I have my shirts, it's been going on for a long time.Â
MN: That's really cool. My mom used to be my coach when I was younger which was really fun. And my best friend was on my team and her dad was the other coach so we ran that little team. It was so fun. I was probably 6 or 7, it was the younger days.Â
GS: What other sports did you play growing up?
MN:Â Basketball was basically my second sport as well as track and field. I liked those.Â
AK: I didn't make my high school soccer team so I ran track and cross country for three years. Plus I played basketball my freshman year. Running made me better and I was still able to play club soccer. But running is the hardest mental sport I've ever done, it made me really well-rounded.
GS: What are your favorite activities away from the field with the team?
AK: We watch Bachelor on Monday nights! Our class gets together.
MN: Our whole team gets together on Friday nights and we just socialize. It's really fun.Â
AK: I feel like I've gotten so much closer to a lot of people that in the past I might not have reach out to.
GS: Any favorite movies or TV shows?
MN: Right now I'm really into two TV shows. I was a little late but I'm into The Office now, I really like it. And Blacklist. I'm not that far into it but I really like it and it's on Netflix.
AK: So I like Mindhunter a lot. I also really liked Ozark which I don't know how to explain.Â
MN: Please tell people to watch Atypical also! It's so good.
GS: What's a fun fact about you two?
MN: Athena and I literally live the same exact life. Everyday of the week we wake up, go to soccer, go to lift, have the same exact classes, and then we go work the same exact hours at Qdoba. We're both in I-Core which is the Carlson School of Management introductory classes.
AK: We have the same tutoring schedule also. Another fun fact about me is that I love thrift shopping, 70 percent of my closet is from there. I don't know, it may be an addiction. Also I was born in Las Vegas!Â
MN: I also like to ski. My whole family loves to ski. It's such a quick drive just to go up to Whistler to sky. There's so many mountains, I also love to hike. I just like anything outdoorsy.
AK: I'm from Colorado and I've only been skiing twice which is pretty crazy.Â