W. Torrance Goalie: Rebel With a Cause

West Torrance High School’s girls soccer players take a lot of pride in being called “full-time rebels.” So much pride, in fact, that during games, Carolyn Hueth wears the word rebel in ink across her neck like a brand.

When Hueth is trussed up in her suit of armor--a goalkeeper’s uniform--her neck is the only exposed skin remaining to display the team’s battle cry. So, while the rest of West’s players scrawl the slogan on their arms, Hueth instead yields her neck to the pen of sweeper Cathy Graham.

“It looks kind of funny, and you have to really scrub to get the pen marks off,” Hueth said. “But it’s a killer feeling to have that word written on there.”

Hueth, a senior and an all-CIF-4-A goalie last year, will lead West (14-4-6) into Tuesday’s Southern Section quarterfinals at home against Capistrano Valley (17-4-3). And it’s a sure bet that Hueth, West’s ringleader, will be showing off her rebellious spirit in block letters across her neck as she guards the goal.

Hueth claims that the catchword rebel has nothing to do with the team’s extracurricular habits. The girls don’t have Confederate flags flying from their windows or Stonewall Jackson tintypes gathering dust on their nightstands.

“It’s not like we’re going to go out and terrorize the town,” Hueth said.

She said the motto, “full-time rebel,” was created on a whim by free-spirited senior midfielder Jill Henderson and the team adopted it to boost their morale on the field. Coach Andy Bonchonsky doesn’t mind his team’s slogan, even though the players write the word on his arms as well.

“They’re a funny group,” Bonchonsky said. “They have their little sayings. I guess they get a kick out of calling themselves rebels. There’s always an emotional thing in girls soccer. They can call themselves anything they want as long as they play together.”

Hueth agreed. “It’s about going all out and giving 110%,” she said. “It’s like, do you want to be a full-time rebel or a part-time rebel?”

This season, Hueth has been nothing but full-time. She blanked Santa Monica and Claremont in the first two playoffs games to notch her 11th and 12th shutouts of the year. And the 5-11 keeper has tallied 133 goalie saves this year. And soccer isn’t even her best sport.

A three-sport athlete, Hueth signed two weeks ago with Pepperdine on a volleyball scholarship. She’s a two-time all-Bay League outside hitter and plays for the South Bay Seniors club volleyball team during the soccer season. During the spring, she’s the defending CIF champion in the shot put and has a personal best of 39-6 in last year’s state meet at Sacramento.

“Athletically, her potential is unlimited in any sport,” Bonchonsky said. “Obviously, I’d like to see her play soccer, but her best sport is volleyball. But if she really wanted to spend a couple years working at soccer, she could be one of the best female goalkeepers around.”

Hueth already is one of the top goalkeepers at the prep level. She fits in well with West’s defensive strategy. The Warriors have a quick, swarming back line that forces opponents to take a lot of long-range shots. With her height (she can reach the top goal post), Hueth has no trouble handling high shots from the outside.

“She also gets down fairly quick for a big girl,” Bonchonsky said. “A lot of teams like to test a tall keeper down low. But she’s not afraid to make dives.”

An example of that came in Wednesday’s second-round 1-0 victory over Claremont, when Hueth got her season-high of nine saves in one game on a gutsy, gritty play with four minutes left.

Claremont’s Lori Maier had broken free of defender Laura Schlom on the left wing and was racing for an open volley. When the ball got away for a second, Hueth took a chance: She abandoned the goalie’s box and went into a tackle with Maier, then dove on the ball outside the box.

“I had no second thought,” Hueth said of the play. “They had started getting cross balls in and winging behind the defenders. I was just trying not to let a scary situation take place.”

“She came out so hard and so fast that it worked out for the best,” Bonchonsky said. “At the end of the play, it was almost comical. She didn’t have time to stand up. Since she couldn’t use her hands outside the box, she stayed down and dribbled the ball back into the box on her knees. But that’s the mark of a good athlete: making an intelligent play in a desperation situation like that.”

Bonchonsky said Hueth’s best save came in the league finale against Torrance, a 0-0 tie that saved West’s undefeated mark in the Bay League. In that game, Hueth turned back eight shots, including a point-blank line drive that she dived for in the corner and rebounded out to teammate Treena Stockton, who cleared the ball.

She’s also assisted on two goals this year, which is a rarity for a goalkeeper. She belted an assist for Stockton on a breakaway against Palos Verdes with a long punt in the league clincher. She also assisted Brigit Tapp against Arcadia in the Ocean View tournament, then saved three shots in a penalty-kick contest that gave West a 2-1 win.

Bonchonsky credits Hueth’s success to her natural athletic ability, coupled with a determination and a lot of workouts with Assistant Coach Andrew Sarkisian, who goes one-on-one against her in warm-ups.

It’s a work ethic that has also allowed her to remain undefeated in the Bay League in the shot put. Hueth started her track career as a hurdler, but after a few crashes she realized field events were the ones for her. And she said she won’t be satisfied until she breaks the school shot put record of 44 feet.

“You’ve got to set some goals for yourself,” Hueth said. “I love the individual challenge of the shot put. Of course, you can only put the shot so many times before your arm falls off.”

Pepperdine volleyball Coach Nina Matthies hopes her star recruit’s arm doesn’t fall off anytime soon. Pepperdine was able to woo Hueth away from Arizona State and Oklahoma. After a recruiting visit to Norman, Okla., where there was sleet on the ground and the temperature was 27 degrees, Hueth was convinced that Pepperdine was the place for her.

“I’ve never even seen snow fall,” she said. “Let’s keep it that way. I’m so stoked I live in California.”