She grew up in Rockton, Illinois where she was a standout on both the soccer and football field playing for Hononegah Community High School.
Her junior year, she transferred to Benedictine University where she earned All-NIIA Conference twice more and lead the team in assist her senior season.
Harshbarger has typically played professionally for indoor football teams based in the Chicago area.
She played for the Lady Regents, an NCAA Division III institution, from 2004–2005, where she was twice named All-Northern Illinois-Iowa Conference.
[2] This made Harshbarger the 2nd woman ever to play in the CIFL, the first being Katie Hnida of the Fort Wayne Firehawks.
She saw her production take a much greater incline by making 8 of 14 field goals, 19 of 26 PAT's and lead the team in points scored with 43.