LYNNWOOD
Meadowdale coach Chris Baldwin attributes it to her natural ability.
Junior forward Julia Fjortoft doesn’t really have an explanation, though she admits to being a little surprised.
The story of the 2008 soccer season in the Western Conference South Division is the emergence of Meadowdale as one of the top, if not the top team, in the league.
And a big reason the Mavericks are tied for first place in the South Division standings with defending champion Jackson is the play of Fjortoft, who has significantly elevated her game from a year ago.
Through last Thursday’s game against Shorewood, Fjortoft has scored a league-leading 16 goals in 11 games. In 2007, Fjortoft scored a total of 13 goals the entire year.
Fjortoft is hard-pressed to explain the difference between her sophomore and junior seasons.
“I was surprised that I’ve been finishing my goals,” said Fjoftoft, the second youngest of the four Fjortoft sisters (Annelie, Hanna and Sara). “Everybody on our team can score. … It’s just not one person having to do it.
“Sometimes I feel like I just get lucky.”
Part of Fjortoft’s success this season is having two years of experience playing forward. She understands the game more and how she should be moving off the ball. Her confidence level also has grown.
“It’s easier when I’m in front of the net to finish after having the experience,” said Fjortoft, who also plays basketball and runs track at Meadowdale.
The Mavericks do not hide the fact that they rely on Fjortoft to shoulder the bulk of the offensive load.
“She has a job to do just as every other member of the team and her job happens to be scoring the goals,” Baldwin said. “She has a natural ability to put the ball in the back of the net. … She makes the team better and she really helps her teammates as well. She’s very unselfish with the ball.”
By natural ability, Baldwin means that when her teammates pass the ball to Fjortoft “she can find a way to get in the back of the net. Our goal is to play the ball, to get the ball up front and allow her to finish, as well as distribute when she needs to.”
Meadowdale typically plays with an offensive set that features two forwards – Fjortoft and a rotation of three or four other players. Baldwin mixed up his lineup in order to keep the defense off-guard. Fjortoft moves around and does her best to be difficult to mark up, Baldwin said.
The assists have been coming from a variety of players but generally have been from the outside midfield.
“The team is really selfless,” Fjortoft said. “Nobody only thinks about themselves. So it’s easy when you have balls coming in from both sides of the field to get a foot on it or get a head on it.”
No matter who Baldwin decides to play up front with Fjortoft, the results are the same – Fjortoft scores and the Mavericks win.
“She does a great job of playing with different girls as I rotate them in,” Baldwin said.
Baldwin also uses Fjortoft as a decoy as evidenced by her three assists this season. Because of her goal scoring ability, opposing defenses are forced to pay attention to Fjortoft.
“They’re going to try and post her up and they’re going to try and mark her as best as possible,” Baldwin said. “She has to be better in distributing the ball to other teammates and that gives her points for assists and that makes the team better.”
When Fjortoft passes to her teammates and garners assists, that results in defenses countering and leaving her open, which leads to more scoring opportunities.
Fjoftort’s mental game is complemented by some superb physical skills. She has great speed and her footwork is amazing at times, Baldwin said. Fjortoft also can get physical with her opponents.
“She loves to take the one-on-one opportunities with just about every defender and I’m confident and she’s confident she can beat them,” Baldwin said.
Fjortoft’s main sports are basketball and soccer but don’t ask her to pick a favorite. It depends.
“Whichever one I’m playing is the one I like the best,” Fjortoft said. “It’ll probably switch when it comes to basketball season.”
In addition to high school soccer, basketball and track, Fjortoft plays select basketball and select soccer. The fall actually is a less hectic time for her since she only had high school soccer and select basketball. Somehow in the spring, Fjortoft manages to juggle track and her two select sports and she’s maintained a 3.92 GPA to boot.
“It’s hard, but obviously I love doing it and I have to find a way to do homework,” Fjortoft said. “Most of the time it’s in the car going from one practice to the other.”
Fjoftoft might have a little less time to do homework in the car in the not-too-distant future.
But it’s by choice.
“I finally got signed up for driver’s ed,” Fjortoft said. “I found the time.”
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