by Adam Colbert
Not only are the students and parents attending the varsity girl’s soccer games, college scouts are joining. Senior attack Nikki Sloan is attracting colleges such as Clemson, Florida Gulf Coast University, UNH, UCONN and St.John’s.
Through fourteen games this season, Sloan has been able to score nine goals and four assists despite the team being winless. What makes her so effective with the ball, coach Spencer Fortwangler says, is her calmness, knowledge and collectedness.
“When Nikki has the ball at her foot, the world stops,” says Fortwangler. “She has natural skill, which you don’t see in a lot of players. [She is] one of the best players in the state since a long time,” says Fortwangler, and the best in 10-15 years of him coaching.
She wants to find a college that she is interested in playing for. Her fear is not being on the playing field. If that plan fails, she will have other options such as deferring a year and playing on club teams.
Sloan is a team player, giving advice and helping the skills of other teammates stand out which makes the team better.
Teammate Julia Scafidi says she’s a good teammate because “she’s a really good passer and gives good advice.” Nikki “is always positive” on the field and during practice.
The team’s game plan is to get the ball to her because she is the number one shooter playing center midfield and attack midfield.
She started playing soccer after her sister, Gabby, started looking at club teams when Nikki was about six years old. “I wanted to do everything she did,” said Sloan. Sloan continued to play soccer throughout her childhood because it had “a lot to do with stress relief when I play and it’s where I feel most comfortable. Also, I’m good at it, and I’m not good at a lot of things.”
Soccer has affected her life in every way. She spends three hours a day training, doing sprints, cone drills and more running, and it has been that way since she was eight, even in the off season. It made her more disciplined, and it made her a more motivated, determined and stronger person.
“It’s something to fall back on; it made me who I am today,” said Sloan.
Sloan has met her friends through soccer. Being on the soccer team is “being part of the family,” and Sloan now knows “what being apart of a family truly means.” Her friends/family and parents have supported her “in every way. They always have my back. I have been recently struggling with injuries, and they keep me positive.”
