All Area : Girls Soccer
Player of the Year
Player of the year: Erica Shelton, Stockdale
There's nothing secretive about how Erica Shelton developed into a standout high school soccer player. The Stockdale senior is simply the embodiment of the adage regarding hard work paying off.
Coach of the Year
Coach of the year: Myka Peck, Garces
Garces girls soccer coach Myka Peck knows the value of a team.
That's why the Bakersfield High graduate stayed away from Drillers gear around her team, and knows her Girls Soccer Coach of the Year award is about more than just her.
"The only reason I'm winning this award is because it's not really Coach of the Year," Peck said. "It's Team of the Year. They're the reason I got this. They worked extra hours, they came in Saturdays for practice."
The Rams also won the Division II Central Section championship, finished second in the rough-and-tumble Southeast Yosemite League and proved again that a school with roughly 700 students belongs with Kern County's elite.
"You always go into the season with high hopes," Peck said. "I was hoping we would get to this point. You can never expect it with soccer. That's the beauty of this sport. But you hope for it."
Peck did more than hoping. In her second year at the school, she had Garces buy into her careful possession-based style, striking when the moment was right and allowing just 11 goals in 26 games, including three shutouts in the section playoff run.
"At the end of last year, I told the girls, 'I challenge you guys to win a Valley championship,'" Peck said. "At this year's banquet, it was like, 'Wow, we did.'"
-- ZACH EWING, Californian staff