Still ballin’: TJHS alum joins first-year West Seattle Rhodies

Hailey Still is arguably one of the best soccer players to come out of any Federal Way area high school. The next most prolific soccer player might be Lamar Naegle, who played for Thomas Jefferson High School back in 2005.

Still graduated from Thomas Jefferson in 2019, and played for the University of Washington to start her collegiate career.

Despite battling injuries and the pandemic, Still is focusing on her next campaign in the fall at the University of Portland, her second season with the Pilots.

This summer, Still has started a new venture — she is suiting up for the West Seattle Rhodies in the USL Women’s League.

It’s the Rhodies’ first season, along with many other teams in the Seattle area playing in the USL-W. So far, it’s been a success for Still.

“It’s been really cool. (The coach) called me before she even had the job and asked me when she got the job, ‘Do you want to help me build a team and be on it?’ I was like yes, absolutely,” Still said.

Still played a total of 26 games for the Huskies across three seasons. She scored four goals in 2022 and four in 2023. However, her best season as a college player came in 2024 in Portland, where Still netted seven goals. It was the most a first-year Pilot has scored since 2010.

She is now in year six of college soccer and has battled through injuries and the pandemic in her career. But those obstacles have helped her fall in love with the grind.

“I think you have to enjoy the grind to some level. There are definitely some days where I could be done. I have my degrees, but the plan is to play pro after, whether that is here in the states or overseas. But my thing is as long as I am enjoying it I’m going to keep playing,” Still said.

“It’s been a long journey, but it has gone by so fast.”

Still had played for Rhodies Head Coach Lyndsey Patterson growing up and had developed a relationship with Patterson, so when the phone call came, there were no doubts for Still. She even had some competition from another former coach, Malia Arrant, who coaches at Salmon Bay FC in Ballard. But Still had already made up her mind who she would take the field for.

In their first game at Nino Cantu Southwest Athletic Complex, the Rhodies drew 1,700 fans. Still has played in the Apple Cup for UW and big matches all her life, but to see that draw and appeal was special.

“Having people specifically there for our team that is brand new, having the names on our jerseys, which was something I never had in college, was really neat,” Still said.

The Rhodies also paid tribute to Mia Hamant with their uniforms this year. Hamant was a teammate of Still while they both were playing for the Huskies. But Hamant is now in the middle of battling cancer, and the would-be Rhodies goalkeeper weighs heavy in the thoughts of the Seattle soccer community.

“Having her ‘MH’ on our jerseys is really cool. She’s a really good friend. Having her setbacks was sad and heartbreaking, which it still is. She’s taken a really good outlook and we have done the best we can to honor her,” Still said.

As a first-year program, building a culture is at the center of what Still wants to accomplish. Still is one of the more veteran players on the roster, and has even seen some of her now-teammates grow up in front of her eyes.

There are also a couple players from Kent and Auburn on the Rhodies roster — Addie Stendera and Ella Shug from Kentridge play alongside Auburn Mountainview’s Kailalani Ahuna.

Seeing those types of players, who might not have had the opportunities to play at this level before the Rhodies began, is a great sign for the future of women’s soccer, according to Still.

“It’s been a great first season. The energy is still high, it’s so fun. It’s soccer. At the end of the day it should be fun. That’s why I think a lot of us are playing, because we still enjoy it,” Still said.

Professional soccer is on the rise in the United States. The National Women’s Soccer League is starting to take flight, with new teams popping seemingly every year. Playing there is a big step up, but one that Still is ready to make. The NWSL now has no collegiate player draft, so the emphasis is on the players making connections with coaches and players across the country.

“Playing here in the NWSL is an option, but not as realistic as playing overseas or starting with the USL league. But that would be the end goal,” Still said.