As the week
before Christmas neared its end, she joined other Xavier Prep students and took
her final exams, six to be exact.
But there
was little time to relax. On her final day of exams, she had just enough time
to grab something for lunch and get to soccer practice.
The Gators
were preparing for their trip to southern California to participate in the
annual Excalibur tournament in Norco, near Riverside.
The
tournament begins Dec. 27 and runs through Dec. 29. Xavier is expected to play
three or four games in the event.
“The
tournament is good because unlike here in Arizona, teams don’t know you and you
don’t know them. You can just go out and play, don’t have to worry about
anything. The thing about this tournament is that all of the teams are really
good,’’ said Ferry, a junior.
The trip
serves as a bonding experience. Ferry recalled how important it was a year ago,
when the Gators played well in the tournament and, after returning to Arizona,
going all the way to the 6A Conference state championship game, where they
defeated Phoenix Desert Vista for the title.
“I still get
goose bumps when I think about that (title),’’ she said. “I want to win another
one. Since we won state, everyone wants to beat us, but we like the pressure.’’
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Xavier junior Kyla Ferry (Photo by Top Drawer Soccer).
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For Xavier
to win it again, the team will have to rely on Ferry, a forward/midfielder, to
produce as she has in the early part of the season.
According to
MaxPreps, Ferry has played in four of
the team’s five games and has scored nine goals to go with four assists for 22
points. Senior forward Abby Hubbard is next with seven goals and three assists
in five games.
Xavier coach
Barb Chura says Ferry “might just be the best player in Arizona and is one of
the best in the country.’’
Colleges
already have noticed. Ferry, who also plays club ball, already has a college
scholarship lined up, to the University of Colorado. She also received
attention from the University of Arizona and Oklahoma.
“I have been
playing a long time, for 10 years, since I was 6,’’ she said. “When I started
to play soccer, I fell in love with it. It takes a long time to learn some of
the things and sometimes you can get tired, but if you love it that much, you
have to be able to sacrifice to reach your goal.’’
She had been
contacted by a few schools and then Colorado called. She hadn’t really thought
about the Buffaloes up to that point, but took a visit and discovered “that
it’s really nice, everything I wanted (business and sports broadcasting). They
are in the Pac-12 and that’s a tough conference.’’
There’s
still almost two years before she lands in Boulder for a permanent stay, so
that gives her even more time to refine her soccer skills.
It takes
only a few moments of conversation with Ferry to realize that she is mature and
has developed strong leadership qualities.
“Sometimes I
think I need to do more than I do to get better,’’ she said. “I want to help
the younger players as the older players helped me when I first came here. You
want to help them gain confidence, encourage them.’’
She said she
has received advice from her father, Jay Michael, a former soccer player at
Brophy Prep, as well as “a lot of good coaches’’ coming up through the years.
Some of
those coaches have told her that she has “a good soccer IQ, in terms of
tactical things. I am out there and things sometimes move slowly and that
allows me to consider what might happen. And if they don’t happen, consider
what I might be able to do to make
them happen.’’
Doing
something like that is important, she said, “and I put a lot on myself. I love
scoring goals and I love taking on that pressure.’’
Ferry has a
4.2 grade-point average and is a member of the National Honor Society. Combine
that with her soccer ability and you’ve got a very good player.
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