How an inexperienced girl surprised an ocean of boys at varsity soccer

By Kayla Armstrong

In her first year of soccer, Jamie Roman didn't play in a single game. She sat on the bench and smiled.

In her second year of soccer, coach threw on the easygoing junior against the league’s toughest team, Einstein Academy, on Feb. 3.

And she almost scored a goal.

Jamie is no Tomboy, but she joined varsity soccer at the Lighthouse Christian Academy just to get involved. LCA coaxes kids to participate in activities they would never do in regular school. With only 45 students, the Saints scour their enrollment list to fill rosters.

“At first I just joined for my friends,” Jamie said of her experience last year. “Then I saw how fun the conditioning was -- that pain in the moment. I wanted to see if I could run.”

She looked perfectly content with exercising and playing at practice -- and being side-lined during games.

“I wanted to play last year, but I was shy and lazy, so I missed the opportunity to play,” she said. “I had a lot of good laughs on the sidelines. But it was kind of embarrassing that I would go to all the games and wear a uniform and not play.”

The 2016-17 season was different. A few players were disqualified because of grades, whittling down eligible players for the starting squad.

Sometimes high school coaches put their least experienced players as forwards because it's the position where they can do the least damage.

(The defensive line is critical because once the opponent gets past, it’s just the goalie that can save the day. You want to fight and maintain position in the middle of the field. So where does the newbie go? Up front.)

In her breakout game, Jamie got offsides a kajillion times. She had to learn how pass the last defender without the ball and how to sprint into the danger zone as soon as her teammate struck for a pass to her.

Nerves killed her.

“I was nervous,” she said. “I was so paranoid that I’d mess up. I was afraid they would yell at me if I messed up.”

Sometimes she was slow to sprint to the ball. And once she got to the ball, she was unsure what to do.

This is how you learn -- and learn she did. After being somewhat of a non-presence, she hearkened to coach and learned how to pressure balls. In one game, she pressured so well that she forced a turnover.

She was pleased with her progress.

Then last week, coach subbed her in as LCA was losing to this year’s league champs, Einstein Academy. After the team with 10 club players had stymied Lighthouse’s attempts at goal for 70 minutes, a pass came to Jamie’s feet and she struck it with all the power she could muster.

The shot went wide.

At first, Einstein’s defenders appeared startled. They had successfully thwarted wave after wave of Lighthouse’s experienced players, and all of a sudden an inexperienced girl in a league of an ocean of boys very nearly bested them.

They laughed at the irony of what almost happened.

Lighthouse showed a never-say-die attitude right up the last minutes.

Senior Will Clancy surprised Newbury with a backwards header that went right near Jamie. She doesn’t remember if she brushed it before freshman Marcus Scribner cooly popped it in the net for a consolation goal. The video is inconclusive.

It may very well be that Jamie got her first assist -- against the toughest opponent.

“I am glad that I am playing now,” she said.

Jamie’s no longer reluctant to join the soccer team. She plans to score lots of goals in her senior year 2017-18.

The Saints went 5-3 this season. At publication time, they still do not know if they earned a playoff berth.

Kayla Armstrong wrote this article in her Lighthouse Christian Academy journalism class.

Pictured: Jamie Roman with Coach Jack Mefford after she almost scored and may have made an assist.