Mike Sherry|Appleton Post-Crescent
KIMBERLY – Emily McCarthy would have gladly traded personal accomplishments to play a few more games with her Kimberly soccer teammates this past spring.
McCarthy earned first-team all-state honors from the Wisconsin Soccer Coaches Association, made the United Soccer Coaches Spring High School Girls All-North Region teamand was first-team all-conference in the Fox Valley Association.
“I wasn’t really looking to do any of that,” she said. “I just wanted us to be successful as a team. I mean, if that stuff helps my team be successful then great. If not, then it doesn’t really matter. I would have rather held up a state championship trophy.”
McCarthy, who has been selected The Post-Crescent girls soccer player of the year, scored 26 goals and had nine assists in 18 games for a Papermakers team that finished with a 16-1-2 record, with the only loss a 3-0 setback against Hartland Arrowhead in a WIAA Division 1 regional final.
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“Emily is such an incredible competitor,” Kimberly coach Andrew Sutton said.“In both practices and games, she is so driven to compete to help our team be successful.She never has to be challenged to work harder or to give just a little bit more. She wants to outwork everyone around her whether they play on her team or for the opponent, and that is usually pretty easy to see on the field.”
McCarthy talked with us about her season, her early memories of playing soccer and her goals for the future.
What she says
On losing to Arrowhead
“I don’t know whether it was the pressure of the game kind of like got to us or if just like the wheels kind of fell off a little bit, but I don’t know. I feel like they did a really good job with just their outside backs getting way up the field and everything was so fluid within their positioning and I don’t think we had really played a team that did that yet.”
On making all-state and all-region
“I just want to prove that I deserve something like that so I keep trying to push harder and get better every day and see if I can continue to do cool things with the team and hopefully next year get to state. That’s our goal.”
On Kimberly’s outlook going forward
“Our future is very bright. I‘m really looking forward to it. I think next year is going to be our year because we’ve still got all of the good juniors we had last year and I think we should have some pretty good freshmen coming in to raise the level and help keep us looking sharp over the next couple of years. I’m just very excited.”
On how she can improve her game
“Obviously, there’s nothing that’s perfect about my game currently. I want to build my awareness on the field, like being able to know where the right passes are. I want to get stronger. I’m not a very big person. Getting stronger and physically faster would always be a bonus and it would make me a little bit more of a bigger player while not being very big.”
On her early memories of soccer
“I started playing officially when I was like 4 or 5. I played with my little sister and my dad was the coach, so it was very like my family was kind of all there. I do remember one of my earliest soccer memories was there was a girl on my team and her shoe came untied and then everyone was so impressed that she knew how to tie her own shoes. (Laughs) So that’s probably my earliest soccer memory. I don’t know how relevant that is, but it is what it is.”
On future soccer plans
“I want to play as long as I can at as high of a level as I can and pretty much see where that takes me. Keep working hard the next couple of years and get to where I need to go or want to go, I should say. … I obviously want to go on and play college soccer and then it would be super cool if after that I could go play like in Europe or something, like on a semipro team. That would be so cool.”
A closer look
Age: 16.
Family: Parents, Lisa and Chris; sisters, Sarah and Maggie; pet, mini goldendoodle Mia Peepers.
Favorite school subject: Social studies.
Favorite food: Chipotle.
Favorite TV show: “The Office.”
Favorite movie: “National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.”
Favorite book: “The Rules of Survival” by Nancy Werlin.
Favorite pro athlete: Alex Morgan.
Hobbies: “Taking my dog for walks or bike rides, hanging out with my sisters or friends, and random art projects.”
Post-Crescent all-area team
First team
Emily McCarthy, so., forward, Kimberly – Player of the year.
Hannah Baer, sr., goalie, Appleton North – First team all-Fox Valley Association.
Emily Dobberpuhl, sr., forward, Fox Valley Lutheran – First team all-North Eastern Conference.
Kalli Drexler, so., midfielder, Appleton North – First team all-Fox Valley Association.
Abby Drontle, jr., forward, Freedom – First team all-North Eastern Conference.
Nina Hartjes, sr., forward, Fox Valley Lutheran – First team all-North Eastern Conference.
Lauren Hoeft, sr., defender, Appleton North – First team all-Fox Valley Association.
Kenna Osentoski, jr., forward, Menasha – Bay Conference offensive player of the year.
Kaitlyn Rohan, sr., defender, Wrightstown – North Eastern Conference defensive player of the year and honorable mention all-state.
Bri Sites, sr., midfielder, Appleton North – First team all-Fox Valley Association and honorable mention all-state.
Alli Steeno, jr., midfielder, Kimberly – First team all-Fox Valley Association and honorable mention all-state.
Honorable mention
Jordan Augustine, jr., defender, Menasha; Addison Baneck, so., defender, Winneconne; Andrea Brizuela Siejo, sr., forward, Xavier;Karlyn Brockman, jr., midfielder, Kaukauna; Leah Forget, jr., midfielder, Neenah;Lilly Griffith, sr., defender, St. Mary Catholic; Marley Gutekunst, jr., midfielder, Fox Valley Lutheran;Senah Hanes, so., midfielder, Kimberly;Bella Hardy, sr., forward, Winneconne; Violet Jeffers, so., midfielder, Menasha; Amaya Jones, so., defender, Neenah; Isabella Jones, jr., goalie, Neenah; Kelcie Karweick, sr., midfielder, Seymour; Addyson Knoebel, fr., forward, Appleton West; Abby Lom, so., midfielder, Kimberly; Emily Madsen, jr., forward, Appleton North; Molly Martine, so., goalie, Xavier; Lilly Meulemans, fr., midfielder, Appleton East; Clara Neumann, so., forward, Wrightstown; Audrey Norville, so., defender, St. Mary Catholic; Greta Norville, sr., goalie, St. Mary Catholic; Ella Rice, sr., midfielder, Neenah; Megan Roloff, sr., St. Mary Catholic; Jenna Scholz, jr., forward, Kimberly; Nichole Schmidt, jr., defender, Neenah; Jordyn Verkuilen, sr., defender, Winneconne; Ashley Vermeulen, sr., defender, Appleton West; Sarah Wolf, so., midfielder, Appleton East; Kate Wood, so., defender, Kaukauna; Ashley Zachor, jr., defender, Appleton East.
Contact Mike Sherry at msherry@postcrescent.com. Follow him on Twitter @MikeSherry14.
