Ark Valley News - Six Hornets earn all-league soccer honors

Six Hornets earn all-league soccer honors
By Taylor Messick
Last Updated: June 11, 2015

This 2015 season was a successful one for the Valley Center High School soccer team. Now, six of the players are being recognized for their individual performances, all of whom will return next season.

Junior forward Kennedy Weaver earned first team All-Ark Valley Chisholm Trail League II honors. She missed last season after knee surgery during the 2013-14 basketball season. She rebounded to lead the soccer team in scoring and establish herself as a threat around the league.

"She was definitely our scoring power," said coach Steen Danielsen. "She could really blow up, depending on the game. She was a junior captain, so I think it was pretty fitting for her to earn this. I think people can see her creativity and her ability to attack the goal."

Sophomore goalkeeper Bethany Reeves, who earned first team All-AVCTL II honors last year as a freshman, was recognized with the award again this season.

"She's a rock that we lean on," he said. "I'll be excited to watch her in her junior season because she'll be an upper-classmen and she'll take that leadership role a little bit more. She's just well-trained and very coachable. She's a workhorse."

Sophomore defender Jadyn Eddy earned first team All-AVCTL II.

"Her athleticism and her control of the ball and her soccer I.Q. really shined with her playing in the center-back spot," said Danielsen. "A lot of times it's easy to dump the ball forward and make it a 50-50 ball in a flat-back four defense. It's easy and safe. But in an effective flat-back four, you need those people to be able to start attacks like that. I love having a defense that's able to be involved in the attack instead of just playing defense."

Sophomore midfielder Ariel Wolff, who was honored last season, was also awarded first-team all-league.

"She's a very smart girl and a very smart player," he said. "What I love about her is that she's always asking how to tactically play soccer. She's not just learning from experience — she's asking questions. I also love how versatile she is. I'd have to pull her to center-back and she'd move back-and-forth, depending on how healthy we were, and she'd just click and play that role. If you put her somewhere, she's gonna put in that extra effort to do what it takes to play that position perfectly."

Sophomore forward Mikayla Vega, who was also honored last year despite being injured, was awarded second-team All-AVCTL II. Vega led the Hornets in assists this season.

"She played that wide position just as well as Kennedy," he said, "and she's just as much of a threat, it's just in that forward spot there's a lot of competition. She's great at crossing the ball, which is why she had so many assists. She was the one producing goals by getting wide and serving the ball to a threatening spot."

Sophomore midfielder Sammy Boese was awarded all-league honorable mention. Boese was second on the team in goals and assists, and was also recognized last year.

"She's the most creative player on our team," he said. "You can put her anywhere and she's going to be a threat. I'm glad she got honorable mention but she's really, really important to us. All of our attacks went through her. She was a part of everything."

Also being acknowledged by the league was Danielsen, who was named the league's co-coach of the year. Danielsen is also the coach of the boys' team and won coach of the year last fall as well.

"To me," said Danielsen, "what this award means is ‘team of the year.' They judge that based on the team's performance — and both in the guys' season and the girls' season — they were the ones that did everything and they were the ones who earned it and worked hard. I think it shows how committed the guys and girls are at Valley Center. It's affirming that I'm doing something right and it's a good feeling."