This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2010, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Taylorsville • Taylorsville sophomore soccer star Abi Black enjoys drawing all sorts of things in her spare time.
But right now she and her young Warrior teammates may be in the process of drawing together for one of the better girls soccer teams the school has seen in recent years.
Taylorsville has only three senior starters. Black, who started varsity as a freshman, is the leading scorer with 11 goals this year. Natasha Howard, another sophomore, is the second leading scorer and Arica Pfeile, a junior, follows.
"I started playing soccer when I was 5," said Black, who also plays point guard for the Taylorsville basketball team. "I started competition teams when I was 10. We all just want it more this year. We are all more dedicated, focused and want to win more. … Everyone is encouraging us."
The Warriors are 5-4-1 overall this year and 3-3-1 in Region 3, where they trail leaders Riverton and Bingham. They reached the state Class 5A tournament last year, the second under coach West Bludworth, but lost 5-1 at powerful Brighton in the first round, though managing to stay close for much of the game.
"Offensively, we're pretty good for the most part," said Bludworth, who never played soccer but learned to coach the game at Highland, a school he attended and where he works full time. "I had a chance to be the head coach at Taylorsville three days before school got out with soccer starting a month or so later. It was a tough way to get things going that first year. We only won one game. We were still in a region with Alta, Jordan, Brighton and Skyline. We didn't win any of the region games that first year."
One thing that hurt the team early this year was an injury to sweeper Marquelle Maxfield, who tore her ACL. That forced junior Emma Robinson to move from stopper to sweeper.
"I like being the sweeper," said Robinson, a natural leader who is junior class secretary at Taylorsville. "It's a lot different but fun. There is more pressure."
Robinson feels that the team has improved greatly this season.
"Our game has picked up a lot," she said. "It's not necessarily showing in our record. This year, we have more heart. We are putting all of our heart into the game."
Emma has noticed that classmates are starting to show up more to support the team. She said that girls soccer games have become sort of a "hangout spot."
Robinson said Bludworth deserves a lot of credit for the team's improvement. "He likes to be personable with us and be involved," she said.
While it appears that Taylorsville's young team is being primed for future success, Bludworth said he has a hard time looking into the future and guessing what might happen. He prefers to concentrate on the present.
"If everybody is healthy, we should be able to do pretty good," he said. "At this point, in the middle of region play, we think we have five games that are winnable. That will put us in a good position. We are not worrying about next year. We want to finish off this year the best we can."
wharton@sltrib.com About Taylorsville
Record: 5-4-1 Overall, 3-3-1 in Region
Key Players: Abi Black, Natasha Howard, Emma Robinson, Arica Pfeile
Last Year: Lost in 5A first round to Brighton
Coach: West Bludworth