Lee’s Summit North’s Marlborough is All-Metro soccer player of the year

Source: The Star

FILE PHOTO

Lee’s Summit North’s Morgan Marlborough (right) finished her high school career with 232 goals.

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Reflecting upon her high school soccer career — where she finished as Missouri’s all-time leading scorer — Lee’s Summit North’s Morgan Marlborough doesn’t narrow things down to one specific special goal.

It is not the memory of scoring one of the record-breaking 69 goals she notched during her senior season. Nor is there one specific highlight among the 232 career goals she scored in her four years. Instead, she points to the moment she advanced to the Missouri Class 3 state championship match in June.

“I really wanted to make it to state again. I really wanted to win,” said Marlborough, The Star’s three-time All-Metro Girls Soccer Player of the Year. “That was my main goal.”

So it would seem that her “main goal,” after all, wasn’t simply putting the ball into the net, but guiding the Broncos to a 25-3 record and runner-up finish at the state tournament.

“Throughout her career, she’s never emphasized the number of goals she scored, or tried to draw attention to that, or allowed that to be the main focus,” LS North coach Tim Richardson said. “She did an outstanding job in being a team player and helping to lead the team as far as we could go.”

The Broncos came within one penalty kick of taking down Incarnate Word Academy in the double-overtime championship game. Despite the heartbreak experienced that day, Marlborough still fondly remembers the big moment for the team.

“It all happened so fast, with the penalty kicks and everything. It was disappointing. I thought we put up a good fight, but we couldn’t get our shots to go in,” Marlborough said. “I still think about it a lot actually, still thinking what a great experience it was.”

The championship appearance capped a career that, when looked at in its totality, should rank as one of the greatest in Missouri high school soccer history.

This year, Marlborough broke her own single-season record. With her 232 career goals, she not only tops all scorers in Missouri history, but also ranks among the top 10 all-time scorers nationally, according to the National Soccer Coaches Association of America Web site.

“You never heard her bragging about her numbers, or ever heard her boasting about becoming the most prolific goal-scorer in Missouri,” Richardson said.

Marlborough now packs up those memories as she prepares for a collegiate career at Nebraska. And the legacy she wants to leave behind in Missouri has nothing to do with her scoring records.

“With (coach) Richardson and how well he developed all his players and how strong of a team we were,” Marlborough said, “everyone knows Lee’s Summit North is a strong team. That’s what I want people to remember about us.”

submitted by CANDACE BUCKNER - 2009-07-22 23:05:01