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Amid the pandemic, Spirit’s Tara McKeown makes a uniquely swift college-to-pros transition

There were days this past spring on the University of Southern California campus when Tara McKeown, a senior forward for the women’s soccer team, went through a master class in multitasking.

Although the college soccer season is typically staged in the fall, the NCAA shifted the 2020-21 campaign to the spring because of the coronavirus pandemic. After the Washington Spirit selected McKeown eighth overall in January’s NWSL draft and she elected to play her spring season before reporting to Washington, McKeown found herself with one foot in the professional ranks and the other still in amateur athletics.