Eve Arthur, a Grace College women's soccer and basketball player, was following her father, Bob Arthur, home to Ohio for Thanksgiving Break.

After stopping to get a bite to eat, the two began the trip home.

At 1:30 a.m., near Sandusky, Ohio, oncoming headlights veered onto their side of the road and struck Bob's van head-on. The collision tossed the van into a ditch on the side of the road.

After her car struck the drunk driver's automobile too, Eve could see the crumpled van and knew what had happened. She ran across the road to a house. When nobody answered her screams and her knocking, she ran back to the accident. A semi truck had pulled up and two men had gotten out.

"I told them what happened," Eve said. "I said, 'I think my dad's dead.' They had a flashlight and looked around. They said that the guy in the truck was still alive, but my dad was dead."

Eve was taken to the hospital to fix the cuts and scrapes she had received. That proved to be a trying experience.

"They pulled the curtain," Eve said. "Right next to me, they pulled in Jeremy (the man who hit her father). They were working on him and I could hear everything that they were doing. They worked on him for a good 30 minutes and then they life-flighted him. He died three days later, and we found out that he was two times over the legal limit for alcohol."

Bob was more than just a friend to the women's soccer team. He was practically another member of the team. He rarely missed a game, home or away, and would eat with the team after games.

"He saw us in our good and our bad," Mark Sproul said. "He saw how we reacted in public and on the field. Outside of our own teammates, he knew us better than anyone."

Before he died, he got the chance to see his daughter shine on the soccer field for two years. He had the opportunity to watch Eve become the cornerstone of a beginning program.

She is, after all, one of the top goal scorers in NAIA history. Her 78 career goals and 173 career points each rank ninth in NAIA history. She holds every school record imaginable. And she is the only athlete who has been a player each of the first four years of existence for the program.

Arthur is attempting to lead this team to the NCCAA National Tournament for the second consecutive season. After opening the year 7-1, the Lady Lancers have struggled against top competition and have fallen to 10-6-1. After heading to nationals as an at-large team last year, this team will have to earn it by winning the regional tournament.

"For all of us, I would love to go to nationals," Sproul said. "For Eve, it's just what I want to do."

Last year, Grace went to the tournament and lost three straight games, ending in eighth place. Despite a record that doesn't compare to last year's 11-4-1 regular season, this team is stronger. The Lady Lancers have played a tougher schedule, losing to four teams ranked in the NAIA Top 20.

"We've worked on some adjustments because people are finding ways to shut Eve down," Sproul said. "It's time for us to change some things so that she can be more effective."

That might not bode well for Eve's opponents as she attempts to move up the list of NAIA career leaders. And all of this comes from a player who wasn't even coming to Grace to play soccer. She never even played in high school, but joined the team during the first year of the program.

"We had 25 girls and the key after that was getting players who had experience and could help us," Sproul said. "Eve's name came up as a basketball and softball player who had soccer experience."

That soccer experience, however, was limited. She had no experience beyond junior high and no playing experience in the previous three years.

"I'm not sure what I expected, but I knew she had experience," Sproul said. "That was the key. She walked on the field (for practice) and it was obvious she had some abilities."

Although rusty, Eve's athletic ability gave her the opportunity to hide the inexperience that she had. She led the team in scoring during that first year and became the cornerstone for one of the most quickly improving programs in the country. Just imagine if she had played in high school.

"She'd probably be at North Carolina or Notre Dame," Sproul said. "The way we've used her and developed her, she could play Division I now."

But Eve has had to get through some tough times. She missed a large portion of the basketball season after her father died. And she has since quit softball to concentrate on studies for one season, of which she has a 3.3 grade point average.

And through the horrible accident, there have been positives that have come about because of it.

"My relationship with my mom has deepened and I appreciate her so much when she comes up to visit me and see my games," Arthur said. "She is a godly woman and a strong woman too. I would love to be like her someday."

Eve has also had the chance to help others at Grace who have gone through similar tragedies. One female at Grace lost a brother in a car accident.

"It was so similar to what I went through that it was hard to be there," Arthur said. "But I've been able to talk with her and help her through some of it."

So Arthur will continue on as she has for the past two years. Although her father is no longer at the games in person, coach Sproul knows that he's watching anyway.

"I have to continue to remind Eve that her dad's got the best seat in the house," Sproul said. "She's always telling me, 'My dad's not here.' God took him home, but he's got the best seat in the house."

Eve will lead the Grace College women's soccer team into the second round of the Mid-Central Conference Tournament. The Lancers are at Indiana Wesleyan at 4 p.m. Wednesday. Grace advanced by beating Bethel 4-0 in Saturday's first-round game. [[In-content Ad]]