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Her stamina, personality and ability to deal with pressures that come with being a goalkeeper make her one of the top players in the Evergreen Conference.
She’s also tough.
Case in point was last year’s 1-0 loss to Centralia at Tiger Stadium when a Tigers player inadvertently clipped Davison in the mouth with her cleats while going for the ball. Davison lost half of a bottom tooth, needing a root canal and a cap the next day.
But that didn’t faze Davison, who remained in the game.
“That’s how she is,” Black Hills coach Lisa Summers said, “and that’s one thing we’re lucky about.”
With the exception of 2008, Summers has coached the Wolves since the school opened in 1997. She’s had top-notch goalkeepers, including Kristen Nagel, a four-year starter from 2003-06 who holds four school records. But the 5-foot-8 Davison is closing in on Nagel’s school records.
Nagel holds school records in saves in a season (136) and career (424), career shutouts (26) and is tied with Davison for shutouts in a season (eight).
Davison, a starter since her freshman season, earned first-team all-2A Evergreen Conference honors last season as a junior. She had 103 saves, eight shutouts, saved almost 50 percent of penalty-kick attempts and had a 0.8 goals-against average.
Davison said she thrives on the adrenaline of one-on-one situations and penalty kicks, which are her favorite part of a match.
In the Wolves’ 1-0 district win (4-3 on penalty kicks) over Washougal last year, not only did Davison save two penalty-kick shots, she also made one.
“When people are coming at you, you get this adrenaline rush,” said Davison, a 16-year-old senior. “It’s fun. I like being a game-changer. I get to make or break the game.”
With her eight shutouts in 2010 – and a shutout in the team’s 3-0 season-opening win over White River last week – Davison has 25 career clean sheets and is two away from breaking Nagel’s career shutouts record. She’s aiming for 30 before her senior season ends.
With Davison leading the way, Black Hills played its best soccer of the year in the playoffs last season. The Wolves finished fourth in the EvCo standings, but won three consecutive road games against higher-seeded District IV teams en route to claiming their first district title in a 1-0 victory over Hockinson that ended the Hawks’ three-year reign as district champions.
The stereotype of goalkeepers as slow or simply being stuck in the goal has diminished. In fact, many elite goalkeepers were solid field-position players before moving to goal. Davison was a forward in her youth soccer days before moving to goal keeper at age 13.
She grew to love being in the goal. When her father, Kirk, coached her at a young age, nobody on the team wanted to play goalie. So naturally, Davison was placed there.
“I learned to love it and learned I was pretty good at it,” Davison said.
This offseason, Davison committed herself to fitness not only for soccer, but also as a change in her life.
In January, she started eating better and exercised more. The result has been a drop in weight, and it has helped her in soccer. She’s faster with her footwork, has a higher vertical jump and is quicker off the line.
“I’ve gotten a lot better as a goalie in places I lacked before,” Davison said.
“She’s going to be able to cover the frame more,” Summers said. “It’s already fun watching her.”
Lately, Washington’s best goalkeeper hadn’t ended their soccer careers in high school.
In the past two years, nine all-state goalkeepers in Classes 4A, 3A, 2A and 1A are now on college rosters, including Enumclaw’s Caitlin Plese, the 2010 3A first-team all-state keeper who is at Portland State. Tina Vargas, a junior on Skyline’s 4A state semifinal team last year, has verbally committed to the University of Denver.
Summers says playing in college is an option for Davison.
“She’ll be able to play someplace,” Summers said. “Absolutely.”
FOUR STORYLINES TO WATCH
A TENINO BREAKTHROUGH
Tenino had one of its best seasons in 2010, qualifying for the 1A state tournament for the first time in seven years, and looks to add to that success in 2011. Second-year coach Anwar Wilson says his Beavers, who have seven returning starters, look to contend for the 1A Southwest Washington Evergreen Division title, led by seniors Karri Russell, Kaitlin Forest and Shelby Frasl. Russell was a second-team all-state selection in 2010. “As a group, they have a more sophisticated understanding of the system they plan in,” Wilson said.
COACHES PICK CAPITAL TO REPEAT
Capital, Timberline and Yelm all have a solid combination of youth and experienced players, and league coaches predict the Cougars to repeat as 3A Narrows League champions. Last season, the Cougars qualified for state for the second time in four years and return five all-league players from 2010. Coach Adriana Montes begins her first year at Capital after recently competed her career at the University of Oregon. The Blazers graduated 3A Narrows MVP Kristen Piephoff, but return seven starters and are continuing their youth movement from the 2010 team that advanced to the district tournament. The bulk of the team are underclassmen, including second-team all-league performers Libby Kamrowski, Krista Jones and Jordan Meyer. Yelm senior Sydney Anderson is a three-year all-league player for the Tornados, who have a handful of players with at least three years of varsity experience.
EVCO RACE WIDE OPEN
The 2A Evergreen Conference features a ton of talented underclassmen, with no clear-cut team that’s favored to win the regular-season title. Black Hills, which finished fourth in the standings last year, won its first District IV title. By winning the district title, the Wolves ended a three-year reign of Hockinson.
Tumwater ended a three-year streak of qualifying for state in 2010, but will play this season without junior Abbey Bergquist, who suffered a knee injury over the summer. North Thurston coach Brian Bigalow says he thinks his team will be improved after last year’s 1-12-0 season, and returns Allie Amico, who was sidelined last year with a knee injury. Amico started as a freshman. The Rams shut out Tenino, 3-0, last week. Chehalis, last year’s EvCo champions, return a bunch of playmakers and routed Elma, 5-1, last week.
DID YOU KNOW?
In 2010, Capital became the first Thurston County girls soccer team to advanced out of first round of a state tournament since Olympia did it in 2005 in the 4A state tournament. Last season, Capital defeated Holy Names, 3-2, in the first round before losing to Seattle Prep, 5-0, in the 3A state quarterfinals. Prior to that, Olympia’s 2005 team advanced to the 4A state quarterfinals before losing to Lake Stevens, 2-0.
