Legend Soccer 2005 taking Licking County club to the summit
NEWARK — Thanks to the girls on his Legend Soccer Club 2005 team, coach Scott Forster will never again have to hear the word “No.”
Legend SC played its way into an exclusive tier this spring. Legend SC earned the club’s bid to its first US Club Soccer National Cup in Denver, Colorado.
"I wasn't super surprised, but with it being such a tiny club and no past history of this kind of thing — the league kind of took a flyer on our team. I had to talk them into letting us into the league," Forster said. "Now, they won't be denied from any kind of event across the country if we ever want to. It kind of sets the club up for all of the other age groups because they are kind of the bell cow."
Legend, which is 21-0-1 this season, won both Great Lakes Alliance National Premier League and the Ohio State Cup to earn bids to the national event of its choice. The regional NPL included top teams from western New York and Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan.
The National Cup is an eight-team event. Each team will play three pool matches with hope of winning its pool and advancing to the final.
"It's really exciting and an opportunity I have been wanting to get," said Licking Heights' Savanna Cronin. "We are all preparing in our own ways and want to go in and give it everything we have. ... To see where we started and now to compete on a national level and being known as some of the best players in Licking County, it's very prideful."
Legend has a core of several players who have been with Forster, Granville’s varsity girls coach, since the beginning in 2015. The club merged with USA Elite the last two years before Forster with Zeke Hegenberger brought it back under the Legend name.
The 2005 18-player roster includes five Granville players — Lyndy Van Horn, Ava Labocki, Allison Tarone, Hope Mahl and Izzy Lauffer — Heath’s Allie Dunlap and Rowan Hughes, Newark’s Mayci Sayre and Maddie Hampton, Heights’ Cronin, Licking Valley’s Avery Williams and Watkins Memorial’s Anna Dudas.
"It's really cool to watch us develop, being on Legend for four-plus years seeing how we've grown and changed and how we can build up to go to these big tournaments," Hughes said. "There is lots of nervousness, but there is lots of excitement at the same time. Hopefully we can push through and do well."
Legend is staying true to its Licking County roots but growing in every direction. The 2005 roster has added Westerville South’s Abby Colvin, Westerville Central’s Meredith Johnson, Gahanna’s Kylie Lewis and New Albany’s Abby Brownhill from the Ohio Capital Conference, Bloom-Carroll’s Maddie Jackson from neighboring Fairfield County and Dover’s Addie Martin and Cambridge’s Riley Cruper to the east.
Legend has six teams at various age levels this season. It will expand to eight girls teams and three boys next season.
"It's almost of a referral thing because it's so new and doesn't have much of a track record," Forster said.
Legend will be against its best competition yet, but it has shown no need to back down yet. Many of the best players from Licking County are putting the club on the map.
The experience and the bonds strengthened will mean more than this week’s results.
"It's definitely an honor. I have never played in something like this," Van Horn said. "I am excited, but I also don't know the competition. It's unusual to do something like this, so I don't know what to expect. I am excited to have all of the rest of the time to hang out in Colorado with my team. It's going to be the best part of it."
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This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: Legend Soccer 2005 taking Licking County club to the summit
