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BOYS SOCCER PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Hensley’s talents truly shined this season
by Denny Seitz
denny@mooresvilleweekly.com
They were playing a team ranked in
the top five in the nation, but weren’t
at all intimidated. The Lake Norman
boys’ soccer team has won enough
games through the years that the players
on the squad know they can compete
at the highest level.
They also know that the team has
what all great teams seem to possess: a
game-changing goalkeeper.
So when the Wildcats went 17-3-4
this season, including a third-round
playoff game at nationally ranked T.C.
Roberson High in Asheville, few were
surprised, because Nick Hensley was
turning back shots with regularity all
season.
Hensley, the Mooresville Weekly
2010 Boys Soccer Player of the Year,
sparked the talent-laden Wildcats team
to a victory at Roberson, showing why
he was the top player in the area with
a trio of saves that were worthy of any
Lake Norman High’s Nick Hensley is Mooresville Weekly’s 2010
Boys Soccer Player of the Year.
Denny Seitz/MW photo
highlight reel.
“When you look back, we’re at T.C.
Roberson. They’re ranked number five
in the country. And he comes up with
absolutely incredible saves,” Lake Norman
coach Jon Mertes said. “There
were three of them. Any one of those
three shots would have gotten by any
other keeper. They were Player of the
Year saves.”
Hensley kept the Wildcats in the
game by saving a direct kick that flew
toward the goal like a bullet, then
stopped a point-blank blast by diving
on the ground and smothering the
ball, ensuring no rebound attempts by
Roberson. The final save came in the
frantic last seconds on another close
shot.
Typically, when the game was most
important, Hensley played his best.
The senior, headed to the Charlotte
49ers on a soccer scholarship, was instrumental
in the Wildcats posting 13
shutouts in the 24 games. The team
allowed just 15 goals all season.
“All the training he’s done, the dedication,”
Mertes said. “Those are the
things that separated him from most.”
Even though the Wildcats have had
a string of great goalkeepers since the
school opened nine years ago, Hensley
was expected to be the first to play at
the college level. He missed that distinction,
though, when Dalton Dauer
earned playing time at Belmont Abbey
this season. As a testament to how
good Hensley is, consider this: Dauer
was relegated to backup for much of
his time at Lake Norman because of
Hensley’s abilities.
Hensley says there are plenty of players
wearing Lake Norman uniforms
who could excel anywhere, and perhaps
generate better statistics if they
weren’t part of such a well-balanced
team. He said goalies are considered
leaders, but it was a job made easier by
his teammates.
“I always thought of the goalie as a
leader,” Hensley said. “I thought it was
my responsibility to communicate with
the guys in front of me. I can see the
entire field, so I need to communicate
and let my teammates know what to
expect.”
Mertes said Hensley has always been
a leader. q
giRLS TEnniS PLAYER OF THE YEAR
It was wild season for Mooresville’s Farrell
by Denny Seitz
denny@mooresvilleweekly.com
Tim Smith remembers the “Wild
Child.” It was during the summer, and
14-year-old Julia Farrell wasn’t the
most consistent player on local tennis
courts, but she was clearly one of the
best.
By the time fall rolled around and
high school tennis action was beginning,
Farrell was anything but wild.
The Mooresville High freshman kept
her intensity and focused on the court,
but Smith says, “She lost that wildness
quickly.”
The result was a stellar season for
Farrell, the Mooresville Weekly 2010
Girls Tennis Player of the Year. Farrell,
just a freshman, played No. 1 singles
for the Blue Devils all season, and
dominated action, playing both singles
and doubles. Her combined record of
40-4 in singles and doubles play earned
her all-region honors, as well as Player
of the Year honors in the I-MECK 4A
conference.
“She is very determined,” said Smith,
of Farrell, who helped the Blue Devils
to an 18-2 overall record and the
school’s first girls’ tennis conference
championship since 1996. “She can
win in many different ways.”
Farrell has the ability to hit powering,
point-winning shots or can be patient
and play a baseline game, waiting until
her opponent makes the first mistake.
Smith says she has a strong forehand
and backhand as well as a great serve.
There is no blemish on her game.
“She could easily become the best to
ever play at Mooresville,” Smith said.
It didn’t take long for Farrell and
teammate Maggie Siebert, a sophomore,
to make their mark on the I-
MECK. Siebert had an overall mark of
40-5 in singles and doubles matches.
Both players – Farrell and Siebert –
were dominating, but neither sought
the limelight by themselves, opting instead
to pursue post-season matches as
a doubles team instead of singles.
“They both like playing doubles better,”
Smith said. “They just like the
interaction and the teamwork. And
they’re unselfish. They’re not in it for
the glory.”
The duo is one reason why the future
of the Mooresville High program could
be promising. Farrell continues to play
in amateur circuits,
honing her game
and
seeking
out the best
competition
she
can face.
S h e ’ s
listed as
a two-star
r e c r u i t
right
now
by
nchighschooltennis.
com, and is among
the
highest-rated
ninth- graders in the olinas.
The future could hold even more
success for Farrell, according to her
Carcoach.
“She has great potential,” Smith
said. q
Mooresville High School’s Julia Farrell is
Mooresville Weekly’s 2010 Girls Tennis
Player of the Year.
Denny Seitz/MW photo
www.mooresvilleweekly.com Mooresville Weekly • Dec. 10-16, 2010 • Page 31