You won’t find Sarah Carter’s name on any girls soccer agate.* Her name never appears under goal highlights or shutouts. But the senior defender and team captain is the heart of Sumner Spartans performance; and their performance this season has been exceptional. The team is ranked No. 1 in the state.
“She is the core of our team,” coach Robi Turley said. “She doesn’t get a lot of recognition because she’s a defender. She’s not out there shooting goals.”
Turley briefly mused how she was there for the beginning of the “model student athlete’s” soccer career. Carter is a four-year Spartan, but she’s a lifelong veteran of the pitch. Beginning in kindergarten, Turley was her first coach.
“I don’t know (why soccer is the sport I stuck with),” Carter said. “I played every sport as a kid. But soccer is always what I had the most fun in. I enjoyed playing it the most.”
Maybe that’s why she’s filled her free time with as much soccer as she can handle. When she’s not kicking for the Spartans, she’s doing it for the Washington Premier Football Club, home of a youth development academy for serious players. She is a captain twice over, at school and in the club.
Carter came on to the Spartans and summarily earned a spot in the varsity squad. They finished in the “Sweet 16” top spots of the WIAA state tournament, and followed up with a pair of “Elite 8” finishes in the subsequent two years. Her junior season was punctuated by an invitation to the U.S. Youth Soccer Olympic Development Program’s regional team—based on exceptional performance in the prior year’s Olympic camp—and a February invitation to the National Development Camp in Las Vegas.
Was it Carter’s aspiration to go to the Olympics?
“It was,” she said. “But now that I’ve come to a decision on college, not so much.
“Everybody would love to make it to the Olympics. Right now there are girls my age on the team; (qualification is) incredibly competitive.”
Carter verbally accepted entry to Gonzaga University and its soccer team last spring. Her 3.95 grade point average in the rigorous International Baccalaureate program earned her a combined academic and athletic scholarship that will almost fully cover her education expenses. She has her eye on medical study—perhaps nursing, she said—but isn’t 100 percent sure which area of study she would like to pursue.
For now, she’s focused on seeing her final season with Sumner High soccer through to a happy ending. When asked about the present undefeated and high-scoring season, she squirmed just slightly, demurring that the Spartans hadn’t come up against truly tough competition yet. But she soon admitted high hopes for postseason and a favorable turnout at the state tournament.
“I’m excited for this season,” she said. “We’re all excited.”
* : Shortly after Sarah Carter’s interview, she actually did score a goal, and appears in the Sept. 26 sports agate.
