2008 European League Champions!
Think the Maryland SoccerPlex is a long way to go to play soccer? Tell that to road warrior Sophie Earll. The high school sophomore used to travel from Belgium to London, Paris and the Hague for school games when she attended the International School of Brussels—and that commitment paid off last year when her team won the European league championship.
Sheer serendipity launched Sophie into soccer. One of her mom’s work colleagues said her kid’s team was looking for players. Maggie Earll, who grew up in the United Kingdom, had noticed Stoddert Soccer players on fields all over the city every Saturday. She also knew that ballet had been a “complete bust” for her six-year old. Sophie joined the Orange Huskies “and never looked back,” reports Earll.
“I started playing soccer because all the kids, especially the boys, played soccer at recess,” recalls Sophie. “I was one of the few girls who played.”
In the ankle-biter years, neither the girls nor coaches were particularly good. Then, around age eight, the parents sprang for what Earll calls “a proper coach.” Though only a high school student, the new coach “really pulled the girls up.” As a parent, Earll soon came to appreciate Stoddert Soccer’s philosophy of fun and player development, and the mix of kids from different schools and backgrounds on the teams. “That’s what made Stoddert so enjoyable,” says Earll, who talks about her daughter “growing up through soccer.”
.
Sophie’s soccer odyssey took a big turn on February 2003, when the family moved to Belgium. For a year, the 10-year-old had no soccer. Then, at age 11, she transferred from the British School to the International School of Brussels, playing fall and spring against other international and U.S. Department of Defense schools throughout Europe for 5 ½ years in the DoDDS League. “It was such an education,” recalls Earll. Talk about travel soccer! Players would board a bus for Friday and Saturday games in Holland, Germany and France, often staying overnight at their opponents’ homes. “It’s a commitment on behalf of parents as well,” says Earll, because families had to agree to host two athletes during the season. That meant athletes had a ready—and reassuring—support system of meals, lodging and laundry service for uniforms.
In 2008, Sophie’s school team won the league’s European Championship. The team was good. But Earll credits the coach, a former pro player, for the victory. “He took a team of clueless players and coached them into absolute winners,” she marvels. The coach instilled new skill sets for a “different game” that emphasized passing, keeping possession, looking for gaps and running.
Sophie, who has attended soccer camps run by Manchester United, the United Soccer League and, this past summer, the University of Virginia, calls winning the European Championship “a real accomplishment,” noting that “the team had played together for two years and could anticipate each other’s moves. I looked up to many of the seniors on the team and was happy to be a part of the winning team."
This past summer, the family returned Washington. Again, a friend connected Sophie to Stoddert Soccer—though with a twist. Earll was looking for an apartment and hadn’t had time to look into travel tryouts when her girlfriend mentioned her child’s Bethesda coaches were looking for players. Earll hunted for tryout details on the WAGS Web site and saw that the DC Stoddert GU17 Heat, a Division 2 team, was looking for players.
Coach Andre Russo, a former standout George Washington University varsity player, quickly responded to her e-mail and invited Sophie to try out. That warm welcome, plus the proximity of practice in D.C. compared with Bethesda, sealed the deal.
Russo and co-coach Jorge Hunt were sold on the new midfielder as well. “Sophie played a different style than what we are used to seeing here in the States,” recalls Russo of that first tryout. “She resembled more the style of play I was used to playing with the semi-pro where I was coached by [former Cosmos player] John Kerr and also George Lidster at GW.” Sophie, he explains, “was physical defensively but very composed and cool on the ball. Having a player playing like this makes it much easier for me to coach the team. It is like having a coach/player out on the field, dictating the pace of the game and controlling the midfield.” Russo says Sophie’s style has changed the flow on the field. “She plays balls into players feet and lets the ball do the work, yet when she has to, she can take players on,” he says. “It is a relaxed/intensity you seldom see at this level.”
The Heat sat out the WAGS fall season to play tournaments—and scored several major wins. The team triumphed at the Williamsburg (Va.) Cup over Labor Day, and shut out four teams at the competitive MSSL College Showcase at Ft. Dix, N.J., Nov. 21-22. Meanwhile, Sophie, whose high-school team narrowly lost to Sandy Spring Friends School in the PVAC championship, played a new position most Saturdays—as the center referee for the Stoddert Soccer rec. games over at Rudolph Rec. Center. 
