Petite in stature at five-foot-two and 105 pounds, Cassadie Stratton doesn’t look like a menacing presence by any means.
That’s not the case though when it comes to kicking around a soccer ball.
The 19-year-old Corner Brook native is quick, agile and dazzling with her feet as an offensive force in her rookie season in Corner Brook senior women’s soccer circles.
Stratton, leading scorer in the women’s league this year with 20 goals in 14 games, helped the Island Orthotic Curling Rangers capture the top seed in the regular season and is now poised to make a run at the playoff crown with the post-season schedule getting underway Sunday night.
“I just like being up there at the net getting on people’s nerves,” Stratton said with a hearty chuckle. “I just want to put the ball in the back of the net because I know I’m doing something good for my team.”
Stratton started playing soccer at the age of four, but she gave up the sport around for a number of years because she did a lot of camping and other activities with her family so she didn’t want to commit.
However, she’s happy she found her way back to the pitch four years ago because it’s a place she loves to be during the summer break.
While she tends to spend a fair amount of time with the ball, Stratton doesn’t think she is selfish in her approach to the game.
“I just use my speed and I just try to get past them, and it seems to be working, but I know if there’s more people focusing on me then there’s other people on the team open and I just have to get the ball to them,” she said. “I don’t want to be a ball hog, but scoring is also important and if you’re scoring then you’re keeping your team happy.”
Winning a scoring title that includes four three-goal games on the season, Stratton is pleased with how she handled herself in her rookie campaign, but she knows it means nothing now that a new season is about to unfold.
She believes it’s time to get down to some serious soccer with all teams poised to make a run at winning it all. It won’t be a walk in the park with a number of teams capable of beating her team so she’s hoping everybody shows up ready to work hard.
“I think it’s just a blank slate and just keep doing what you know how to do and things will work out,” she said.
