Quantcast
skip navigation

Park sweeper Annie Williams leaves her mark on defense

By PATRICK JOHNSON, Special to the Star Tribune, 11/01/14, 5:11PM CDT

Share

Annie Williams made a four-year career of leading the Wolfpack with quality defensive play.

 

On the soccer field, Annie Williams deflects anything that comes her way.

The Park of Cottage Grove senior and four-year starter anchored the Wolfpack at sweeper, a position crucial to Park’s defensive-minded game plan. The Wolfpack allowed just 45 goals in her 60 games.

The two-time all-state player and two-year Park captain was recently named to Star Tribune’s All-Metro first team and was one of five finalists for Minnesota’s Ms. Soccer in Class 2A.

Williams’ sweeper role at Park resembled a quarterback on the soccer field, defending 1-on-1, clearing away any through-balls, and dribbling or passing the ball upfield to start a counter attack.

She started playing defense for her Cottage Grove Athletic Association youth team in seventh grade.

“I didn’t like it at first,” Williams said. “I wanted to score goals. But I learned scoring isn’t everything.”

Growing up, Williams idolized Park’s Briana Westlund, a two-time all-state defender for the Wolfpack who later played Division I soccer at Northwestern University. Westlund, a 2008 Park graduate, embodied the Wolfpack’s sweeper position.

“I’d watch her to see what she’d do,” said Williams, who earned all-conference three times in the Suburban East. “She was amazing. She was really tough and worked really hard. I tried to do the same thing.”

Park girls’ soccer coach Greg Juba, who is retiring after this year after coaching the Wolfpack since the program’s inception in 1982, said, “Annie had a great four-year career. We expect a lot from that sweeper position and she was able to do it right away as a freshman and she kept getting better each year.”

Juba compared Williams to Westlund, who played five years of varsity soccer.

“They’re very similar players,” said Juba, who compiled more than 400 victories. “Annie, I believe, is a better athlete. That’s why I think she’s going to continue to improve.”

Williams was one of 11 seniors on a Park team that went 12-6 overall and nearly upset No. 1-ranked Eagan in the Class 2A, Section 3 semifinals. She said the Wolfpack wanted it to be an outstanding year for Juba, whose teams have made five state tournament appearances, including two trips to the state championship game.

“All of us knew this was going to be a special year,” she said. “We wanted to make it the best season possible for him.”

Williams, 17, is currently playing for the Minnesota Thunder Academy’s U18 team in the Elite Clubs National League (ECNL).

The ECNL pushed its start date back to Oct. 18 to allow players a chance to play for their high school and for the Thunder. The Minnesota State High School League bars athletes from playing the same sport for two teams at the same time.

Williams likely could have played for MTA in past years but decided not to so she could continue to lead Park.

“It was hard but at the same time it was an easy decision,” Williams said. “I didn’t want to leave my team. I wanted to play for my high school.”

With Park, Williams got to play with her twin sister, Carlie, also a four-year starter for the Wolfpack in the midfield.

“That was one of the best experiences ever,” Annie Williams said. “She’s one of the hardest workers I’ve ever played with. It makes me sad knowing we won’t play together again. She’s my best friend.”

Williams, who is undecided on where she’ll play college soccer, said she hopes her year with MTA will attract recruiting attention. Some ECNL games reportedly draw 30 to 40 college coaches and scouts.

“Wherever she goes, the school is going to be lucky to get her as a player, a person and a student,” Juba said.