Columbus, Pacelli lead the way for top soccer awards

The top awards for the 2016 Ledger-Enquirer All-Bi-City boys and girls soccer teams look strikingly similar to 2015. Once again, it’s a combination of a strong season for the Pacelli boys and Columbus girls.

In addition, though, one position was so strong that it led to the creation of a new award to give defenders the same recognition as offensive players.

On the girls side, Columbus’ prolific scoring tandem of Gigi Schorr and Kimberly May were awarded co-players of the year, and defender Madeline Goodfellow the girls defender of the year. Columbus coach Rusty Oliver, who led the group to a state runner-up finish in GHSA Class 5A, was named girls coach of the year.

For the boys, Pacelli’s T.J. Fick earned player of the year, while his coach Nick Fusco was named boys coach of the year. Columbus’ William Fuller earned boys defender of the year.

It was an interesting conundrum on the girls side when it came to awarding the best players of the season. The Lady Blue Devils had three players who each played roles so vital to the team’s success that if you removed any of them, it is unlikely the team could have gone as far as it did.

Schorr led the team in scoring with 21 goals. May had 17, but she also led the team in assists with eight. Goodfellow scored only two goals, but if you factor in the number of goals she prevented in one-on-one situations on the back line, her combined total is probably right around, if not more, than the others.

“I think that’s the strongest part of my game,” Goodfellow said, referring to the one-on-one situations.

The solution? Recognize them all.

Both Schorr and May were co-players of the year last season as sophomores, and they have one more season to try and capture that elusive state championship. It’s something they believe they can do after beating a team like Starr’s Mill in the state semifinals.

“We know we can beat the best teams in the state,” Schorr said. “I think the expectations are going to be set higher.”

“I think next year we’ll come back even harder,” May said. “If we work hard enough, I think we can do it.”

One of the things that prepared the Lady Blue Devils this season was coach Oliver’s willingness to schedule arguably the toughest slate of games in the entire state. Their scrimmage was against Whitewater, and that was just the tip of the iceberg. They played McIntosh and Woodward Academy, both losses, early and were the only team to beat Pike County in the regular season.

Then there was a brutal stretch, during which they went 1-5 in games against Marist, Parkview, Allatoona, East Coweta, Northgate and Blessed Trinity.

The result was a gaudy eight losses but also a battle-tested team that was prepared for the rigors of the state playoffs. It finished with its third runner-up finish in program history, earning Oliver coach of the year.

Meanwhile, on the boys side, Pacelli was once again up to its challenges this season. Despite losing a number of players to graduation off of last year’s state semifinalist team, the Vikings were once again among the best in the state in Class A.

Fick was a big reason for that. He scored 29 goals and assisted on seven others. Fusco called his sophomore leader a “workhorse.”

“He’s the one coming out there before practice taking way too many shots where I have to tell him to calm down,” Fusco said with a laugh. “It’s a good problem to have.”

Fick said it’s just a matter of giving everything he has, every day, to try and improve. That’s something the team did throughout the year, as it was playing its best soccer come playoff time.

Fusco had to work on rearranging the back line throughout the year due to injuries and other challenges, and by the end of the year he had a group he was satisfied with. The team went 12-4-3 and played in the semifinals for the second straight year.

“I was really proud of us, especially after losing nine seniors from the year before,” he said. “We replaced them with a bunch of underclassmen and still made it all the way back there.”

Columbus defender Fuller was the leader of a unit that allowed just 0.6 goals per match during region play. The team was a defensive force, and Fuller said it all came down to the unit’s communication.

“That’s really important on the back line,” he said. “It was easy for me to talk to the guys and let them know what was going on and who to mark. We had a talkative defense, and keeper Noah Wallace played a huge part just letting everyone know where to be.”

This story was originally published May 29, 2016 at 3:40 PM with the headline "Columbus, Pacelli lead the way for top soccer awards."