Former soccer star’s daughter is having her own historic Clemson experience
The bright blue eyes and long blonde hair are telltale signs of their kinship.
Sheri Bueter Hauser said it’s not uncommon to get a phone call from her oldest child, Ella, with a story about how even strangers in the Clemson area can’t help but notice the resemblance. “You have to be Sheri Bueter’s daughter,” they’ll say to Ella.
In the mid-1990s, Sheri was a recognizable force for Clemson Women’s Soccer. Ella has followed in her footsteps.
A senior midfielder, Ella is going through the final season of what’s been a historic experience as a member of the women’s soccer program. Ella contributed to a 2023 season that saw Clemson make its first-ever appearance in the Women’s College Cup, soccer’s version of the Final Four.
“It was an experience like no other,” Ella says.
Sheri was the one making history three decades earlier.
Women’s soccer was introduced as a varsity sport at Clemson in 1994, the same year Sheri became a member of the inaugural team. Growing up near Cincinnati, Ohio, Sheri was heavily recruited by the University of Cincinnati, the Ohio State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, to name a few. She hadn’t heard of Clemson at the time.
As fate would have it, the coach Clemson hired to start the program, Tracey Leone, helped coach Sheri in an Olympic developmental program. That relationship, combined with the desire to be a part of something new, lured Sheri to the Upstate.
“That was just exciting, trying to be that team that came in at a ground level that nobody had any expectation or really hope for,” Sheri says.
Sheri started on four NCAA Tournament teams, including Clemson’s inaugural Elite Eight team in 1997. She was a three-time all-ACC Tournament first-team selection, the first player in the program to pull off that feat.
She went on to play for the U.S. women’s national team in 1998, but her fondest athletic memories are from Clemson. She was inducted into the Clemson Athletic Hall of Fame in 2009, which she calls “one of my biggest badges I like to wear,” and still holds the program record for assists in a career (40) and season (t-13).
“To think about how my coaches kind of built that team around my ability to distribute the ball and how successful I was in that, that is another thing that I really am proud of,” Sheri says.
The game has come full circle for mother and daughter. And while they may share some physical traits and school colors, there are some differences between the two.
“I’m more of a defensive-minded player, and she was more an attacking-minded player,” Ella says. “It’s kind of funny because she had all the speed. I got the endurance from my dad.”
All in the Family
Sheri and Ella aren’t the only members of the Hauser clan with Clemson ties.
While in school, Sheri met her husband, Scott Hauser ’98, a pitcher for then-baseball coach Jack Leggett’s teams. A native of Mount Airy, North Carolina, Scott earned a scholarship offer from Clemson after Leggett scouted one of his high school games.
“It was kind of meant to be one of those things,” Scott says.
The couple’s middle child, Nolan ’28, is the latest addition to the Clemson Family. He’s a freshman kicker on the football team.
Their youngest daughter, Ava, a high school soccer player, could be next in line, though Sheri and Scott say it’s important for them to let their children make their own college decisions, insisting the fit be right academically and athletically. Clemson’s game day atmosphere initially piqued Nolan’s interest, and the family culture coach Dabo Swinney has instilled in the football program ultimately sold him on his parents’ alma mater.
“(My family) is 2 1/2 hours away,” Nolan says. “They can come to a practice whenever they want. You can’t do that everywhere. I think that’s a really important decision of why I picked Clemson.”
Ironically — and perhaps fittingly — family has helped continue a proud Clemson legacy that’s formed naturally for the Hausers.
“You’re a member of something, and a lot of people aren’t proud to talk about or make (their alma mater) a point of conversation,” Scott says. “But when you’re from Clemson, you talk about being from Clemson and going to Clemson.”
