THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 8, 1995 TAG: 9512080645
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: FROM STAFF REPORTS
LENGTH: Medium: 53 lines
Just one look. That's all it took for Kevin Sims to get a read on Angela Hucles.
``The first time I ever laid eyes on her, I knew she was something very special,'' the Norfolk Academy girls soccer coach said of Hucles, a Bulldog senior who will be playing her fifth year of varsity soccer next spring.
Thursday, the National Soccer Coaches Association of America agreed that Hucles was indeed something special, naming her to the NSCAA/Umbro high school All-America team. She and other members of the boys and girls All-America teams will be honored at the annual NSCAA banquet in Philadelphia on Jan. 20.
Hucles, who also was voted the Virginia player of the year in a balloting of state coaches, is the only female from Virginia on the All-America team.
The awards are the latest lines on her lengthy resume. Hucles has been named the South Hampton Roads player of the year each of the last two seasons by The Virginian-Pilot, has been a first-team All-Tidewater selection for three years and is a four-time All-Tidewater Conference pick, a two-time winner of the Norfolk Sports Club Metropolitan Player of the Year award and a two-time member of the NSCAA All-South team.
Hucles, the all-time leading scorer in Norfolk Academy history with 152 goals and 89 assists, is being recruited by some of the top collegiate programs in the country, including Virginia, William and Mary and Florida.
``The college coaches see the same things I do,'' said Sims, ``great athleticism, exceptional quickness, a fluid, graceful style and the ability to set the table for other people to score. Although Angela will be able to score goals at any level, I think her role in college will be as a playmaker. She makes everybody better.''
Sims said Hucles' All-America status goes beyond soccer.
``She has all the right attributes off the field, too,'' he said. ``She's a very well-rounded kid.''
Hucles is Norfolk Academy senior class president, school Environmental Club president and a member of the student council.
BULLDOG TEAMMATE Carrie Evans, a senior, joined Hucles on the All-South girls team, which is composed of players from Alabama, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Mississippi, North and South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. Gabe Valencia, a senior from Nansemond-Suffolk, and Adam Schultz, a junior at Kempsville, were the only local boys named to the All-South team. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Angela Hucles
by CNB