THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, June 12, 1996 TAG: 9606110477
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C5 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: 1996 ALL-TIDEWATER PLAYERS OF THE YEAR
SOURCE: BY VICKI L. FRIEDMAN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 71 lines
You thought she couldn't get any better.
But Norfolk Academy coach Kevin Sims says she has.
Behind a career-best 52 goals her senior season, Angela Hucles has been named The Virginian-Pilot's girls soccer player of the year for the third consecutive time.
Norfolk Academy's schedule included some of the nation's best competition, reflected by the team's 15-8 record, more losses than the last four years combined. But Hucles, also a Parade and Umbro All-American, continued to pad the school record book that rank her No. 1 in career goals (204) and assists (106).
``The quality of goals she scored this year is clearly a quantum leap above those in the past,'' said Sims, who coached Norfolk Academy to its 11th straight TCIS crown. ``This year she had to create goals by herself, for example, by beating one or two defenders, by making her own opportunities. In the past, maybe she had to polish off a series of good passes.''
Hucles, with 13 hat tricks this season, won't even slightly brag on herself, although she will admit to having accomplished all she wanted to since she first donned the Bulldog blue as a seventh-grader. She's slowly realizing her Academy uniform will be replaced by a University of Virginia one this fall.
``It still hasn't hit me completely yet,'' she says. ``I know on one level I won't be playing for this team I played with for five or six years. I'm not in shock, but I don't know how to describe it.''
She's ready to play more soccer this summer, set to travel to St. Louis next week for the Puma Cup, a national invitational for the sport's high school elite. She'll also continue with the state's Olympic Development team, where last summer she got her first taste of college soccer. Her ODP team competed in the same tournament as U.Va., Maryland and George Mason.
Hucles' resume, already a full page long, will thicken, Sims said.
``What's most exciting to me is that however good she is capable of being,'' he said, ``we're going to find out.''
The rest of the first team:
Carrie Evans: A senior midfielder from Norfolk Academy, she's a two-time All-Tidewater and five-time All-TCIS pick. Despite being slowed by a stress fracture in her foot, she finished with 14 goals and 17 assists, giving her 69 goals and 64 assists for her career. She plans to play soccer at William & Mary.
Robin Dwyer: A senior forward from Cox, she sparked the Falcons to a state AAA semifinal appearance with 12 goals and four assists. She will play field hockey at Princeton.
Natalie Stumpf: A senior midfielder from Cox, she transferred in from Florida and scored 12 goals and 12 assists. She will attend Davidson College.
Erica Webb: A junior stopper from Cox, she finished with eight goals and six assists.
Lauren Rafal: A junior forward from Kempsville, the speedy Rafal collected a team-high 15 goals and nine assists and was named all-state.
Kristin Cholewa: A senior midfielder from Kempsville, she returned from a knee injury that ruined her junior year to key a Chief defense that shut out seven opponents. She also had eight goals and seven assists. Cholewa has signed to play at West Virginia.
Johanna Thompson: A junior from Kempsville, she scored five goals and three assists from her stopper position and was a first-team all-state pick.
Katie Roman: A senior defender from Maury, she led the Commodores to the Eastern Region tournament. The only high school player on the roster of the Hampton Roads Piranhas, Roman signed to play soccer at George Washington University next season.
Katie Kraemer: A sophomore sweeper from Oscar Smith, she was the Tigers' top scorer with 16 goals and five assists.
Tiffany Swiney: A senior goal keeper from Indian River, she was an All-Southeastern District pick for four years. This spring she made 120 saves and recorded four shutouts. She was named her team's MVP her freshman, junior and senior year. by CNB