After Three Years Of Setting Her Teammates Up To Shoot At The Goal, Central Valley Soccer Standout Katie Carpenter Has Moved Into… . Scoring Position

Central Valley High School soccer player Katie Carpenter played out of position for three years because she was too good.

This year, the CV senior is finally getting to play her position of choice.

As a midfielder last year, Carpenter led the Bears in scoring with 10 goals.

As a forward this season, she already has 10 goals in eight games.

“She was forced to play center-halfback when she really wanted to play forward,” said her coach, Howard Woollett. “The truth is she should be center-halfback this year, but I can’t do it to her as a senior.”

It is one of the compromises between Woollett and Carpenter, who have often diametrically opposed ideas about how the game should be played.

“Howard and I had conflicting views about soccer,” Carpenter admitted. “This year we’ve put it aside. We know each other’s opinions and left it at that.”

Carpenter has played soccer since age six and been a premier player at forward in the Skyhawks program.

As such, she has played with members of opposing Greater Spokane League teams.

“It’s fun to get to play against each other in high school,” she said.

Those players have committed to a year-around regimen of fall Skyhawks games along with their high school season, spring Olympic Developmental Program play and summer tournaments.

It has at once been a bane and blessing for high school coaches. They must work around scheduling conflicts, such as when two CV players missed the second game of a weekend trip to Yakima because of a club conflict.

But they have benefitted from the experience players have gained in club programs. That is why Carpenter was asked by Woollett to play midfield.

“The center-halfback is the point guard, quarterback - the best player on the team, no question,” he said. “She is the workhorse who sets up the forwards for all the glory.”

Carpenter started for CV as a freshman. “She was very skilled and read the field well,” said Woollett.

Her sophomore year she sprained a knee and missed much of the season. Last year she remained in midfield until late in the season, but led the team in scoring.

Carpenter also started for CV in basketball as a sophomore, a sport she didn’t take up until junior high. A proficient long-range shooter, she averaged 8.5 points per game.

Last year her playing time and scoring diminished, to 3.0 per game and a mere 2 points in five playoff contests.

“It was just the way the team was made up. They could do more than I could, I guess,” she said. “I don’t know how it happened but it was not as much fun as my sophomore year.”

It has led to her decision to forget basketball and concentrate on soccer.

“I can’t get away from it,” she said. “I miss it if I’m not playing every day.”

Premier soccer, in which players are selected in tryouts, is a speed game, said Carpenter. It is quicker than the high school game.

“It is very, very tough for a premier player to come back to high school and play with the cards they’re dealt,” said Woollett.

But Carpenter would like to see the Bears challenge for the playoffs, after beating Ferris and losing just 2-1 to Mead in non-league games. Last year the Bears won six league games and lost four others in overtime.

“I think everyone thought we wouldn’t be as good as we are,” she said. “We’re basically the same team as last year and our skills are better.”

To date the Bears are 4-3-1, but lost 2-1 Monday in their first league counter against Lewis and Clark.

Carpenter, relishing her chance to get her kicks up front, scored CV’s only goal.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo