THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, April 5, 1995 TAG: 9504050663
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PATTI WALSH, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: Medium: 53 lines
Oscar Smith's Katie Kraemer is no stranger to big stadiums, capacity crowds and championship games.
The freshman has been playing select soccer since she was 12 and spent last May in Norway competing with the Olympic Development team.
However, in her first varsity season with the Tigers, she didn't know what to expect. Neither did coach Andy Overton.
``We've always finished last,'' Overton said. ``I didn't know what kind of team I was going to have.''
And then Kraemer took matters into her own hands, or, rather her feet.
The freshman midfielder scored 10 goals and dished out an assist en route to the Tigers' first championship in the third annual Oscar Smith Invitational Girls Soccer Tournament. More amazingly, Kraemer spent only half her time on offense during the Tigers' four tournament games. She spent the rest of the time at fullback to ``beef up the defense.''
For her efforts, Kraemer was named the tournament's most valuable player and is The Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star female athlete of the week.
``I'm really shocked and impressed,'' Overton said. ``I don't think anyone on the team was really surprised though.''
The competition sure was.
In the opener, Kraemer, who usually plays sweeper but started at the midfield position, scored five goals as the Tigers trounced Lake Taylor, 6-0.
Tuesday night, she scored another in Oscar Smith's 3-0 victory over district rival Indian River.
Two nights later, the Tigers got their first test of the tournament from Granby, which took a 2-1 halftime lead. But Kraemer came out kicking and with 15 minutes to go and tied it up on a shot from 20 yards out to send Oscar Smith to the championship game against Norview.
She scored twice more against the Pilots as her team posted its third shutout in an easy 5-0 win.
``I wasn't nervous or anything,'' Kraemer said. ``I just went out there and scored a goal. I had the open shots and I took them.''
But before Kraemer would do it on her own, her coaches had to ask her to take the shots.
``She's a very unselfish player,'' said Overton of his star scorer, who prefers to pass the ball.
``They told me to take more shots,'' Kraemer said. ``But I don't like being the center of attention on the field.'' by CNB