In one year, the sophomore went from playing on the JV B-team to making game-changing saves in the state tournament
By Michael Adams
madams@onthesidelinessports.com
GEORGETOWN – Before Sophia Martin was making game-changing saves at the UIL girls state soccer tournament, the Westlake goalkeeper was a team manager as part of the “support team.”
Then one day, Martin took head coach Darci Carruthers up on her offer to be the goalkeeper for the junior varsity B-team just so she could be a part of the Chaparrals’ girls soccer program.
What a difference a year makes.
Martin is the 2024 Rising Star Award recipient, given to the top newcomer as part of On the Sidelines Sports’ All-Austin Metro Girls Soccer Team, which will be released in its entirety along with the boys team on Monday, April 29
As a freshman, Martin tried out for the team as a field player. Carruthers said Martin was consistently showing up on her depth chart on “the support team.”
“Every couple of weeks, I post what is essentially a depth chart, which has a varsity pool, JV-A, JV-B and what I call the support team, which practices but is basically a manager for the varsity on game days,” Carruthers said. “She came up to me one day and said, ‘coach, I want to be a part of this program, what do I need to do,’ I said JV-B needs a goalkeeper, and she said, I’ll do it.”
Carruthers noted that throughout Martin’s freshman season as goalkeeper for the JV-B team, she just kept getting better and better.
“She was making save after save and I wondered, is it because it’s JV-B, so I had her start practicing with the varsity. I knew then she was going to be something special.”
Despite having the inexperience of a first-year varsity player, the District 26-6A goalkeeper of the year continuously played like a seasoned veteran when the Chaparrals needed her most.
In Westlake’s state semifinal against Rockwall, a foul in the goal box against defender Ade Nelson led to a Yellowjackets’ penalty kick attempt with the score knotted at nil-nil.
A poised Martin dove to her right and blocked the point-blank shot from Rockwall’s Ayla Garcia, who put the rebound shot over the cross bar and kept the match scoreless.
At the time, Martin may not have understood the magnitude of her save; however, her teammates were fully aware.
“Sophia’s save changed the whole momentum of the game,” junior midfielder AJ Carlson said after the Chaps’ semifinal win. “It was huge.”
Later in the game, Carlson thanked Martin by scoring the only goal of the match in the 70th minute that eventually gave Westlake the victory and sent the Chaps to the state final for the first time in almost 30 years.
When the game clock struck zero, Westlake players sprinted to the south goal at Birkelbach Field where Martin was standing and embraced their game-winning goalkeeper.
Then came the postgame media attention.
With TV cameras surrounding her, Martin was asked about her save. She simply said, “I just wanted to do everything I could to help my team win.”
While the state semifinal may have been Martin’s signature highlight of the season, it surely wasn’t her only one.
Throughout the playoffs, she consistently stepped up for Westlake with three clean sheets and allowing no more than one goal in any of the Chaparrals’ seven playoff matches
In all, Martin had 11 shutouts in her first varsity season, while helping the Chaps break records and return to the state tournament for the fourth time in school history.
That’s quite the journey from essentially being a team manager and taking over as goalkeeper on the junior varsity B-team.
“It’s only the beginning for Sophia,” Carruthers said. “She continues to get better and not buckle under the pressure. I can’t wait to get her through a summer of goalkeeper training with a club team. The sky is the limit with her.”