Sports - High Schools

POSTED: Saturday, Oct. 24, 2009

PREP GIRLS' SOCCER: Jones, no hands, sweeping up nicely for Sehome

As the defensive leader of the Sehome soccer team, Kaya Jones' biggest weakness might be the urge she feels to reach out and grab the ball with her hands.

"Sometimes," Jones admits. "I just kind of go for the header after that."

In soccer, that's a big no-no. But it's not entirely her fault.

The stud defender, who was an All-Whatcom County first-team selection last year as a sophomore, showed up at Sehome's soccer tryouts as a freshman looking to make the team as a goalkeeper, a position she played for four years on her Whatcom Rangers squad.

Jones, who when entering Sehome actually almost went out for volleyball instead of soccer, made the team. Just not exactly how she imagined.

"It just happened that during tryouts I needed another defender on the field," Sehome coach Andria Fountain said, "and I'm like, 'Hey Kaya, do you ever play out on the field?' She was, 'I haven't in a long time.'"

"I actually had no idea," Jones said. "For Sehome, I tried out as a goalie but I was kind of the backup and she put me in defense one day and everything worked out. I was surprised. I wasn't expecting it at all."

The move seems to have worked out for both parties, too. Jones currently anchors a relatively new Sehome defense that has allowed just seven goals over 15 games, second only to Mount Vernon.

Jones, on the other hand, has learned there's more to life - her life at least - than standing in front of a net, waiting for the action to come to her.

"Now after playing on the field, I like that more because it's more exciting than goalie," Jones said.

"I don't think she knew what she was missing for a long time," Fountain said. "Literally, she had been a keeper for years on her Rangers team. Like I said, we had another solid keeper and I thought if we can keep the ball away from the keeper using Kaya defensively, then that would help."

Of course, one team's epiphany is another's detriment. There are probably some Northwest Conference coaches who'd rather Jones had stayed in front of the net. Or a volleyball net, for that matter.

"I think she has some sort of ball magnets in her feet," said Squalicum coach David Kish, whose team managed to score once during two losses to the Mariners this season. "But no, she's just very good at reading the game. She's very quick and she's hard to beat. I remember the first time Jessica (Wallace) was beating her and she didn't necessarily catch up, but she did enough just to put Jessica off and she couldn't finish the shot. Because she's smart."

Jones' physical talents, which she undoubtedly inherited from her father Mark Jones, who she said played football at University of Washington from 1989-1991, are hard to ignore, if only because she's one of the few players who regularly keeps pace with some of the league's true burners. Fountain said she'll sometimes have Jones mark players like Ferndale's Kaytlyn Steele, also a physically dominant player, and Haley Locker or Mount Vernon's Tia Brogna.

"She's strong. She's fast," the coach said. "She's got really long strides so she doesn't look like she's moving fast, but she covers ground. I have not found anybody in this league that can outrun her yet."

Still, Jones' speed at the sweeper position isn't the only reason Fountain decided she could afford to send more players forward on the attack. While most teams play four in the back line, Sehome usually relies on two marking backs in front of Jones.

The aggressive approach has helped Sehome lead the league in goals scored with 54.

"Physically, obviously, she's very helpful to have back there," Fountain said. "But I think mentally it's huge because basically since Kaya's been on the team she's played every minute of every game unless she was hurt."

That's a big reason Jones may be the one player the talented Mariners squad could least afford to lose as they enter postseason play. When Fountain chose her starting defense to begin the year, Jones was the only defender with significant varsity. Jordan Murray, a senior, and Haley Smith, a sophomore, typically start at marking back in front of Jones right now while senior Megan Schrupp helps out at defensive midfielder. Freshman Emily Russell and senior Andrea Monks rotate in the back, too. Freshman keeper Rachel Albert has more than held her own manning the goal.

"They've actually done a pretty good job of figuring out how to work with each other and communicate," Fountain said. "Ironically enough, they're probably the 4 or 5 quietest people on our team."

"Haley (Smith) and Emily (Russell) and Jordan (Murray) and Megan (Schrupp), our whole defense, we all work well together, which is good," Jones said.

Jones has glimpsed beyond her Sehome years with a desire to play college soccer, maybe even follow in her dad's footsteps and play for the Huskies.

In the meantime, though, she actually kind of enjoys math. And she'll see many of her closest friends when the Mariners take on Bellingham at Civic Stadium on Monday, Oct. 26. Her best friend is Emma Wayerski, who plays sweeper for the Red Raiders and whom she's known since the first grade and while combining as teammate on the Rangers. The two don't see each other much when Sehome and Bellingham play, though, since they both play in the back.

Of course, Jones may have just made a case for moving up to the forward position. She scored a goal in Sehome's 5-0 win over Meridian on Thursday, Oct. 22. It wouldn't be the first time.

But with the 2A postseason looming, don't expect to see another position change anytime soon. And right now, hands down, Jones is a sucker for sweeper.

"I would like to try it some time, but it's kind of hard with our defense because I'm the sweeper," Jones said of playing forward. "So maybe some time I'd like to try it up there. But I love defense too much."