Feb 12,
2001 - 03:15 PM
Freshman goalkeeper is key to
Gators' defense
LAND O' LAKES - Gators
players breathe easier with Shannon Aitken in goal.
It was an attack even the
bold Shannon Aitken wasn't prepared to handle. She was playing in a club soccer
match in 1997 when suddenly she felt hot and as if her throat was closing up.
The breathing attack, as
Aitken calls it, stemmed from anxiety. When it subsided, her coach moved her
from forward to goalkeeper for the rest of the match.
``That's the only way I
could play,'' Aitken said.
So began Aitken's tenure
guarding the goal. Four years later, the 15-year-old freshman is Land O' Lakes'
starting goalkeeper about to play in her second regional match Tuesday at
Seminole. She still wears the first jersey she ever owned. She has tried new
ones before, but once lost four games in a row, so she switched back. ``It's
like a good-luck jersey,'' she said. Her first pair of gloves also are a
keepsake. But the breathing attacks have been gone for six months.
In fact, Aitken spends much
of a match yelling, partly to intimidate the other team and ``scare them away
from the goal'' and partly to shout out strategy to teammates.
``To become good, you have
to be loud,'' Aitken said. ``You can't be shy or nobody's going to notice
you.''
Being shy isn't a problem
for Aitken. Casie Poyssick, Land O' Lakes' leading scorer (43 goals), describes
her best friend as a very outgoing person.
She plays the same way,
happy to dive and get dirty and always willing to attack opponents before they
attack her. ``She makes tremendous saves,'' Gators coach Vicky King said.
``She's not afraid to go to the ball in the air and one-on-ones don't bother
her.'' Aitken has posted 18 shutouts while allowing just 19 goals in 29 games
for the Gators (23-5-1). Her teammates, led by Poyssick and fellow sophomore
Stacy Bishop (38 goals), have given her plenty of support with 138 goals.
In fact, they dominated so
much of the action against Plant in the Class 3A regional quarterfinals that
Aitken didn't face a single shot on goal.
She spent the entire match
cold and bored, watching and waiting. That wasn't the case against Clearwater
Countryside in the district semifinal.
In what King considers
Aitken's best performance this season, Aitken had nine saves, including one on
a crucial breakaway in the second half.
``We have a lot of
confidence in Shannon,'' Poyssick said. ``We don't get that nervous even when
they [opponents] have a shot on goal.''
On the play, Aitken
challenged the Countryside player just inside the box and cleared the ball.
``She's very brave and
that's one of the utmost qualities a goalkeeper should have,'' said Alan
Spratley, a former professional goalkeeper in England for 20 years who is now a
private instructor to Aitken and Gators boys goalkeeper Greg Kline. ``And she's
very athletic with a lot of ability. If she's willing to stick to it, she can
get a [college] scholarship one day.''
Aitken already has captured
the admiration of her teammates as the successor to Mandy Stephens, who
graduated last spring. She may be just a ninth-grader, but that doesn't seem to
matter to the older Land O' Lakes players. Many have played with her in the
past on club teams. Respect was never an issue.
Aitken's aggressive
on-field attitude only helped her cause.
``It's important because
she's the key to the defense,'' King said. ``If the defense has confidence in
her that she'll win the ball, it will improve the level of our defense.''
Land O' Lakes may have to
rely on Aitken even more in the regional semifinal against Seminole. She sat on
the bleachers at Plant High Thursday night and watched her friend and classmate
Kline emerge from penalty kicks as a hero.
Should it come down to
penalty kicks, Aitken says she is up for the challenge. The pressure may be
tough, but King believes her team would breath easy afterward.
``The higher you set your
expectations,'' King said, ``the higher her level of play.''
(CHART) Class 3A-Region 3
semifinal
-- Who: Land O' Lakes
(23-5-1) at Seminole (20-4)