Refining her role
| Thursday, Apr 02 2009 09:59 PM
Last Updated Thursday, Apr 02 2009 09:59 PM
Stockdale girls soccer coach Janien McGowan has known Erica Shelton for a long time.
"Her older sister and my daughter played together," McGowan said. "As long as I know, Erica always had a soccer ball at her feet."
So don't take it lightly when McGowan says that she's never seen Shelton make improvement like she did between her sophomore and junior years as a Mustang.
"Fitnesswise, skillwise," McGowan said, "just every aspect of her game."
Because of that -- and because Stockdale, which lost nine senior starters from its 2007-08 edition -- Shelton is The Californian's Girls Soccer Player of the Year.
Shelton scored 25 goals and dished out 18 assists from her midfield spot this year, and, as McGowan is quick to point out, also was well-rounded enough to help out often on defense.
"I almost considered putting her at sweeper," McGowan said, "but she's too offensive-minded."
Shelton led Kern County with 68 total points despite missing three games to take a recruiting trip to Las Vegas. She also scored all three of Stockdale's goals in a 3-3 tie with Liberty in what was a showdown of the area's best two teams and assisted on Ariel Meadows' goal that helped the Mustangs stun top seed and unbeaten Clovis in the Division I Central Section semifinals.
"This year was very smooth," Shelton said. "There was no drama; the girls were great, the coaches were great."
And Shelton, above all, was great. She credits the improvement in her game to playing amongst tough competition all summer for her club team in Los Angeles.
"It just really changed the way I played," Shelton said. "It helped me come back this season a lot stronger. The main thing is work ethic. I felt like I worked 10 times harder this season than last year."
That was important, because Stockdale didn't have the luxury of the experience it had last year, when co-Players of the Year Kassi Massie and Laura Johnson led those nine seniors to the section title game.
"Right then after that season ended, we were just talking about how many people we were going to lose and who needed to step up," Shelton said.
After her L.A. trip, Shelton took that to heart.
"You try to teach kids that the upperclassmen are there to lead you, but it becomes your turn," McGowan said. "The junior class and senior class did a great job of stepping up."
McGowan added that Shelton was one of the few junior captains she's had in 19 years at Stockdale.
"It's different from last year," McGowan said. "She wants the ball. She went from role player to role model."
