M Club Spotlight: Sherae McNeal

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For Sherae McNeal, the experiences and connections at the University of Maryland guided her career and allowed her to become more ambitious. The Maryland native now works as an attorney representing clients throughout the state. 

McNeal grew up in Columbia, MD, where she attended Oakland Mills High School and was part of one of the best high school soccer teams ever. 

She retained her community ties by staying close to home, where she attended Maryland and later became part of the first Maryland women's soccer varsity team in 1987. Whether it was unprecedented challenges on the soccer field or encounters in the classroom, McNeal says those experiences helped her find success after graduating.

When McNeal attended Maryland during her freshman year in 1984, there wasn't a varsity women's soccer team. The program wasn't in place until her junior year on campus. There was simply a club team that McNeal was a part of as she continued her passion for playing soccer. 

The Terps went from a club team to competing in the ACC against programs such as North Carolina that were far ahead. McNeal played midfielder during her two seasons. 

As one can imagine, the Terps weren't very competitive in their early years. As McNeal said, "We just wanted to have enough people to have a soccer team." However, she believes playing soccer, especially at Maryland, taught her to never give up and continue fighting.

"I think sports definitely helps In your work environment and the kind of work ethic you have," McNeal said. "Are you the kind of player who gets beaten by another player. Are you the person who stops? Or are you the person who chases that person? Do you have the never give up kind of attitude?"

McNeal allocated much of her time in the classroom leading up to her first year playing soccer at Maryland. She was an English major but was still determining the direction she would take after college. 

"I didn't plan on going to law school. People would ask, 'What are you going to do with an English degree?' McNeal said. "And I guess a lot of people teach or whatever. But I really don't think I wanted to teach. So I actually didn't decide until the last minute."

As a senior, McNeal became a teaching assistant, and the teacher convinced her to attend law school. 

"That one professor is the one who talked me into going into law school," McNeal said. "He helped me to aim higher. I was like, I'll just be a paralegal and he says, 'Why do you want to be a paralegal? Why not be an attorney? Why settle for that?'" 

All law school applicants must take the Law School Admission Test (LSAT), but McNeal missed the testing dates and had to pay extra money to have it administered to her. She then reached out to a fellow student who was a teaching assistant with her for help.

"I believe she had gotten a perfect score on the LSAT," McNeal said. "So before I took the test, she allowed me to come over and stay with her for a couple of days, and just day and night, we ate, we studied, we slept for a little bit, we studied, and I kind of crammed for it all in a few days."

McNeal earned admission into the University of Maryland's law school - Francis King Carey School of Law in Baltimore. She even lived with one of her former teammates that she played soccer with at Maryland. 

McNeal promptly began many experiences that prepared her for a career in law, and she passed the bar exam in 1991. She later served as the Chief Judge of the Orphans' Court in Howard County after eight years of experience on the bench, where she administered court judicial processes and presided over hearings in complex estate probate cases.

Today, McNeal is a partner of the law firm O'Guinn McNeal Attorneys At Law, handling various legal matters. She's also a contractual hearing officer for the Housing Commission of Anne Arundel County and the Housing Opportunities Commission of Montgomery County. McNeal, 57, still plays soccer in Montgomery and Howard County leagues.

McNeal says there's "No question" that attending the University of Maryland helped shape her career path. She continues to support women's soccer, and seeing how far the program has come is also something she's had the pleasure of being a part of.  

"The new coach, Meghan Nemzer, does a really good job of tying the older players with the younger team," McNeal said. "They have a little Terp program. So she's made us feel like a part of it. And that's been really big for us because we didn't for a long time."