College Wanting to attend college on the east coast, Flaherty committed to
Clemson to play for the
Tigers, receiving "hardly" any other scholarships from eastern universities. The following season, she was named the first-team All-
ACC goalkeeper and was also named a second-team All-South region selection. The Gators suffered their first loss of the 1998 season to
North Carolina, dropping to 11–1 on the season after losing 2–1 to the Tar Heels. She set Florida school records in
goals against average (GAA) in a career with 0.643, and season-long records in minutes played, games, starts, saves, wins, and shutouts; she recorded shutouts in all three of the Gators'
SEC Tournament matches. The
Gators defeated Santa Clara 1–0, snapping the Broncos' streak of 16 consecutive shutouts to set up a rematch against
North Carolina for the national championship. Flaherty and the Gators then won the 1998 NCAA championship game, defeating North Carolina, 1–0. In the game, Flaherty saved ten shots from going in. On the win, she stated, "We knew going in we wanted to play North Carolina. We were kind of hoping for it. If you're going to be national champions, you have to beat the national champions." She was the first goalkeeper drafted in the
2002 WUSA draft. She also played for the
Hampton Roads Piranhas of the
USL W-League, a semi-professional open league. The Piranhas won the 2003 W-League championship game, with a 1–0 win over the
Chicago Cobras.
National team From 1996 to 2001, Flaherty was a
U.S. national team pool member. In 1997, she was selected to the roster for their training camp and traveled with the U.S. team on their
Nike tour. ==Coaching career==