Western Michigan Christian High School soccer star Nora Pollock is headed to Grace Bible College in Indiana.
(Photo courtesy of Randy Riksen)
By Ron Rop
LocalSportsJournal.com
When Nora Pollock arrived at Western Michigan Christian High School, she brought more than just her elite talent on the soccer field.
Pollock, who attended Fruitport Calvary Christian as a freshman and sophomore, made the move to become a Warrior for the final two years of her high school career.
And in two seasons on the Warriors’ soccer team, Pollock rippled the soccer nets for more than 80 goals. During her two years at Fruitport Calvary Christian, the Eagles did not field a girls’ soccer team so Pollock ran track and excelled in the sprints and delved into the 800 and 1,600 as well. She got her soccer fix playing at the club level for SCOR in Grand Rapids. Her club team kept her very busy with weekend tournaments and practices.
But, she was much more than just a talented soccer player.
“She is a fantastic soccer player, especially in the attacking third of the field,” said Jared McFarland, the third-year head coach at WMC. “She is such an incredible person.
She comes from an incredible family. She walks joyfully and she brings a joy to the game and to the team. She’s just incredible to be around.”
But, her soccer skills must be mentioned.
“Her speed, quickness and vision ... to see passes and shooting lanes,” said McFarland. “She brings the leadership as well and she’s played a lot of soccer for as young as
she is. She brings just so much experience. It’s essentially her and a couple others who are like coaches on the field.”
Not only did Pollock bring her speed to the Warrior lineup, but her ability to play the game equally well with both feet. She was responsible for taking WMC’s corner kicks and used both feet depending on which corner the ball was placed. That skill resulted in numerous assists to her teammates.
“I also feel like my vision on the field and how I see the field and the runs and how I am able to see that,” she said.
It was a banner season for the Warriors, who did get off to a rather rough start, but that had everything to do with the teams Coach McFarland signed up to play - Hudsonville Unity Christian, the recent three-time defending state champions, the Spring Lake Lakers, another defending state champion from a year ago and Holland Christian, which traditionally a highly skilled team. That was followed by a victory over Fruitport and a tie against Kalamazoo Christian, a Division 4 perennial power. The Warriors were sitting at 1-2-2 after that early-season gauntlet of games.
“We had an incredible record because the girls earned it,” said McFarland. “We could schedule anybody and win, win, win, but at the end of the day, are you challenging yourself on the field, are you challenging yourself as an individual and are you priming yourself for a postseason run?
From there, the Warriors did not suffer another defeat until a rematch against Kalamazoo Christian in the Division 4 regional semifinal game. The Comets eliminated the Warriors 1-0. Despite the outcome, the future appears bright for the Warriors despite the fact Pollock is departing the scene due to graduation. WMC finished the season ranked No. 1 in Division 4 and ended the season with a 13-3-3 record.
“As the season has gone along, we’ve grown tremendously in the set-piece area,” McFarland said. “The girls were figuring out how to get on the end of crosses and how to finish the chance. It’s been a focus every game on how to earn corners and set pieces in the attacking third.”
It’s that growth that has caught Nora’s attention and made the season so successful.
“It’s been really fun and it’s definitely been different because there are a lot of young players on the team,” said Pollock. “Each game it’s so cool to see all the improvement our team made. I knew with having such a young team that it was only going to get better. A lot of starters were freshmen and just each game I knew we’d get better as their experience grew. I’m really glad we had those hard games and we kept having them throughout the season that tested our back line and our scoring.”
Pollock is quick to deflect some of the accolades to her teammates, many of whom will be back in a Warrior uniform next season and even a year or two after that.
“There have been a lot of scorers this year so it’s really been fun to see,” said Pollock. Emersyn Paling, a sophomore, scored some big goals and a young midfield that includes two freshmen and two sophomores also excelled and grew over the course of season. Allie Buckner and Gilly Beckley were instrumental in controlling the ball and moving the ball ahead to Pollock, and others.
The defensive line also was very young with two freshmen included in that last line of defense in front of junior goalkeeper Elaina Clapp. Molly Visser was a starting center backer as a freshman and did not “play like a freshman.” Eve Pollock, Nora’s younger sister, also was a key freshman.
“These are kids who have played a lot of soccer,” said McFarland. “They have played at high levels of travel soccer, club soccer so being able to bring them in and mold them into one team in unity has been fun to watch. To see it grow the program.”
“There is plenty left here for next year,” said Pollock.
“We are losing a lot of quality, but we are returning a lot of quality,” said McFarland.
Pollock is taking her soccer skills to Grace Bible College (Ind.) to study to become an elementary school teacher.
LocalSportsJournal.com
When Nora Pollock arrived at Western Michigan Christian High School, she brought more than just her elite talent on the soccer field.
Pollock, who attended Fruitport Calvary Christian as a freshman and sophomore, made the move to become a Warrior for the final two years of her high school career.
And in two seasons on the Warriors’ soccer team, Pollock rippled the soccer nets for more than 80 goals. During her two years at Fruitport Calvary Christian, the Eagles did not field a girls’ soccer team so Pollock ran track and excelled in the sprints and delved into the 800 and 1,600 as well. She got her soccer fix playing at the club level for SCOR in Grand Rapids. Her club team kept her very busy with weekend tournaments and practices.
But, she was much more than just a talented soccer player.
“She is a fantastic soccer player, especially in the attacking third of the field,” said Jared McFarland, the third-year head coach at WMC. “She is such an incredible person.
She comes from an incredible family. She walks joyfully and she brings a joy to the game and to the team. She’s just incredible to be around.”
But, her soccer skills must be mentioned.
“Her speed, quickness and vision ... to see passes and shooting lanes,” said McFarland. “She brings the leadership as well and she’s played a lot of soccer for as young as
she is. She brings just so much experience. It’s essentially her and a couple others who are like coaches on the field.”
Not only did Pollock bring her speed to the Warrior lineup, but her ability to play the game equally well with both feet. She was responsible for taking WMC’s corner kicks and used both feet depending on which corner the ball was placed. That skill resulted in numerous assists to her teammates.
“I also feel like my vision on the field and how I see the field and the runs and how I am able to see that,” she said.
It was a banner season for the Warriors, who did get off to a rather rough start, but that had everything to do with the teams Coach McFarland signed up to play - Hudsonville Unity Christian, the recent three-time defending state champions, the Spring Lake Lakers, another defending state champion from a year ago and Holland Christian, which traditionally a highly skilled team. That was followed by a victory over Fruitport and a tie against Kalamazoo Christian, a Division 4 perennial power. The Warriors were sitting at 1-2-2 after that early-season gauntlet of games.
“We had an incredible record because the girls earned it,” said McFarland. “We could schedule anybody and win, win, win, but at the end of the day, are you challenging yourself on the field, are you challenging yourself as an individual and are you priming yourself for a postseason run?
From there, the Warriors did not suffer another defeat until a rematch against Kalamazoo Christian in the Division 4 regional semifinal game. The Comets eliminated the Warriors 1-0. Despite the outcome, the future appears bright for the Warriors despite the fact Pollock is departing the scene due to graduation. WMC finished the season ranked No. 1 in Division 4 and ended the season with a 13-3-3 record.
“As the season has gone along, we’ve grown tremendously in the set-piece area,” McFarland said. “The girls were figuring out how to get on the end of crosses and how to finish the chance. It’s been a focus every game on how to earn corners and set pieces in the attacking third.”
It’s that growth that has caught Nora’s attention and made the season so successful.
“It’s been really fun and it’s definitely been different because there are a lot of young players on the team,” said Pollock. “Each game it’s so cool to see all the improvement our team made. I knew with having such a young team that it was only going to get better. A lot of starters were freshmen and just each game I knew we’d get better as their experience grew. I’m really glad we had those hard games and we kept having them throughout the season that tested our back line and our scoring.”
Pollock is quick to deflect some of the accolades to her teammates, many of whom will be back in a Warrior uniform next season and even a year or two after that.
“There have been a lot of scorers this year so it’s really been fun to see,” said Pollock. Emersyn Paling, a sophomore, scored some big goals and a young midfield that includes two freshmen and two sophomores also excelled and grew over the course of season. Allie Buckner and Gilly Beckley were instrumental in controlling the ball and moving the ball ahead to Pollock, and others.
The defensive line also was very young with two freshmen included in that last line of defense in front of junior goalkeeper Elaina Clapp. Molly Visser was a starting center backer as a freshman and did not “play like a freshman.” Eve Pollock, Nora’s younger sister, also was a key freshman.
“These are kids who have played a lot of soccer,” said McFarland. “They have played at high levels of travel soccer, club soccer so being able to bring them in and mold them into one team in unity has been fun to watch. To see it grow the program.”
“There is plenty left here for next year,” said Pollock.
“We are losing a lot of quality, but we are returning a lot of quality,” said McFarland.
Pollock is taking her soccer skills to Grace Bible College (Ind.) to study to become an elementary school teacher.
––––––––––––––––––––
Subscribe to the Legal News!
https://www.legalnews.com/Home/Subscription
Full access to public notices, articles, columns, archives, statistics, calendar and more
Day Pass Only $4.95!
One-County $80/year
Three-County & Full Pass also available
