The game of soccer has created a lot of opportunities for Alaina Lange.

“Oh, that’s a tough ball for your goalie to handle,” said Lange, to a player during a recent Lansingburgh girl's soccer practice.

From youth soccer to the collegiate level, and now coaching high school girls, it’s been a part of Lange’s life since she was five.

“Those lifelong memories and those lifelong skills are what really is impactful for me,” she said.

For the Lansingburgh head coach, soccer has also led her to a different kind of football. For the last five years, Lange has been part of the New York Knockout, a semi-pro women’s team, which came to fruition when she was coaching at Schalmont.

“The Messimer, they started New York Knock long before I started coaching at Schalmont, and when I had their girls come through the soccer program, they introduced the game of tackle football to me,” Lange said.

She tried out, made the team and quickly fell in love with the game. Lange found a home at wide receiver, safety, kicker and punter.

“There’s a lot of things of soccer that’s incorporated within the game of football, which is part of why it was such as easy transition for me to go from soccer to football, because I still get to use the skills and things that I’ve learned and developed in soccer,” she said.

Lange became quite good at it, especially on special teams. When she saw on social media tryouts were being held for the U.S. Women’s Tackle National Team, Lange went for it.

She made the team as a kicker and punter. Lange traveled with them over to Finland to compete in the International Federation of American Football Women’s World Championship.

“Finland was like no other experience,” Lange said. “I don’t even know if I can put it into words completely.”

Lange went 19 for 19 on PATs throughout the tournament, and helped the U.S. defeat Great Britain in the Gold Medal game in August.

“With the coaching staff and the 40 players from around the nation, the top best footballers in all of the U.S., it was an experience I will absolutely never forget,” she said.

As she cherishes those memories, Lange has adjusted back to the other kind of football and coaching the Lansingburgh Knights. She’s planning to be involved in both sports for years to come and continue sharing her passion and helping the games grow.

“Girls who do enjoy playing multiple sports know that there are opportunities for them that they just might not know of yet,” Lange said. “And so being able to provide those resources so girls and women know where they can go to enjoy the things they love doing.”