PORT ANGELES — Maddie Boe began her freshman season as a swing player who split her time between the Port Angeles JV and varsity girls soccer teams.
There were two other swing players who spent more time with the varsity team.
“I kind of set it as my goal to try to get up there before them. I just tried to get up to varsity and prove my abilities to the coaches,” Boe said.
“I’m kind of a competitive person. I like to turning everything into a game.”
A few games into the season, Boe made it to the varsity team first.
“She quickly earned a starting role,” Port Angeles girls soccer coach Scott Moseley said.
“She definitely belonged out there.”
Boe end her first varsity season second on the team in scoring and earned Olympic League honorable mention.
As a sophomore this year, Boe’s success continued.
The forward led the North Olympic Peninsula in points with 16 points (six goals and four assists) and was named to the Olympic League First Team.
Boe also has been selected as the All-Peninsula Girls Soccer MVP.
“I kind of felt like I needed to step up from my freshman year,” Boe said, “but I wasn’t really expecting to play as well as I did.”
Boe is smaller than the prototypical goal-scorer, but she still has a knack for putting the ball in the net.
“She’s always in the right place at the right time,” Moseley said. “That’s how she scores most of her goals, being in the right place at the right time.”
Boe said the key to her scoring prowess is predicting where the ball is going to go and then wasting no time getting it in the net.
In other words, a lot of prior thinking while the ball is in motion and then quick thinking once it arrives.
“It kind of just depends on the timing. You have to really time when the ball’s going to be kicked and what your run’s going to be, kind of like the banana run where you have to curve it around,” Boe said.
“The ball comes to me, and I just hit it in with whatever part of the body I need — sometimes it’s my hips, knees, whatever, it just kind of goes in.”
Of course, a lot of work that goes into Boe’s scoring, too.
“One aspect that stood out was her work rate,” Moseley said.
“She’s always working to win the ball.”
This was displayed in one of Moseley’s favorite Boe moments from this season:
“Although she didn’t score on this, it shows her work rate,” Moseley said.
“Against Sequim, the ball was passed to Maddie at midfield. She played a pass to a teammate and took off running to the goal.
“Two passes later, a cross was made in front of the goal which was gathered by the Sequim goalie — but Maddie was right there, having run 45 yards, anticipating where the ball was going to be.”
To be one of the top scorers on her team as a freshman and a sophomore requires plenty of self-assurance.
“She’s very confident. Any good goal scorer is confident,” Moseley said.
Moseley said that he’s excited to have two more years of coaching Boe, and after her early success, Boe heads into those two years looking to fine-tune her skills.
“My shot, maybe work on my passing left-footed, that kind of thing,” Boe said.
“Just little touches that I need to work on, getting the small things down before I get into bigger things.”
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Sports Editor Lee Horton can be reached at 360-417-3525 or at lhorton@peninsuladailynews.com.
2013 North Olympic Peninsula scoring leaders
Name Goals Assists Points
1. Maddie Boe, Port Angeles 6 4 16
2. Kyle Jeffers, Port Angeles 5 4 14
3. Makayla Bentz, Sequim 5 1 11
(tie) Jewel Johnson, Port Townsend 5 1 11
5. Brittany McBride, Port Angeles 4 1 9
(tie) Vianey Cadenas, Sequim 3 3 9
7. Leslie Cisneros, Sequim 2 4 8
8. Emma Moseley, Port Angeles 1 5 7
9. Maeve Harris, Sequim 1 2 4
(tie) Khaya Elliott, Port Angeles 2 0 4
(tie) Callie Peet, Port Angeles 2 0 4
(tie) Madison St. George, Port Angeles 2 0 4
