Le, Stump earn honors
Le, Stump earn honorsSurprised `Le,' Stump earn honor ERIK ERLENDSSON Tampa Tribune correspondent
BRANDON - What has become habit for one is new for another.
Casey Stump became the fourth male Bloomingdale player, and eighth overall, to win the Jose Alvarez award as the county's top senior soccer player. Hong-Van Le became the first East Bay player, male or female, to win the award.
``I was totally surprised. I have never won anything like this before,'' Le said during a dinner at Alvarez's home.
Le finished among the top 10 goal scorers in the county and helped lead the Indians to one of their most successful seasons.
``I told her before that I was going to nominate her,'' East Bay coach Claudine Kraus said. ``She kept wanting to know how she was going to be able to win. I had to keep telling her it was the total package [soccer, academics and civic activities].''
Le will graduate 15th in her class and carries a 4.7 GPA. She also volunteered 75 hours to the Red Cross Hurricane Shelter and helped coach youth soccer.
The award for Stump capped two weeks of postseason honors. He was named The Tampa Tribune Player of the Year, Hillsborough County Player of the Year and Class 6A Player of the Year, awards not usually given to defensive players.
Stump said he figured those type of awards were received by players that put up big numbers, not those whose job it is to prevent them.
``Defense a lot of times in soccer gets overlooked,'' Stump said. ``When you can win this type of award as a defender it really shows you achieved something.``
Alvarez, active in local youth soccer, started the award in 1985. The honor is voted upon by county coaches.