Daily Journal Girls’ Soccer Player of the Year: Woodside’s Mariam Yusuf

Yusuf, a senior forward, was the difference maker for a Woodside soccer team that went unbeaten to win the Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division championship, going 6-0-4. Overall, the Wildcats were 10-5-6 and were the No. 7 seed in the Central Coast Section Open Division playoff bracket.

Using size, strength and speed, she led the way with a team-high 13 goals, to go along with three assists. She was named the Bay Division Forward of the Year and caps her senior year as the Daily Journal’s Girls’ Soccer Player of the Year.

“This past year was my last year (of high school soccer), so I wanted to have a great season,” Yusuf said. “Last year, we had a pretty good run and was hoping to get further than that. We did that by winning league.”

Alex Herrera, Woodside’s first-year coach, had an inkling about Yusuf’s abilities. He had coached her at the club youth level, from the time Yusuf was in fourth grade until she entered Woodside.

“I was familiar with what she could do. … She was a dominating force up top,” Herrera said. “I would have expected nothing less (than the performance she put up this year). She blows past defenders. Her shots would rocket past goalies.

“We won games without her, but with her there, everything became a little easier. When Mariam plays … it opens up other teammates. For her to have that presence on the field helped a lot. … It was fun to watch.”

It wasn’t always easy, however. As a goal scorer, the pressure is on — whether internally or externally — to score. When that doesn’t happen, it can wreak havoc on a forward’s psyche.

Yusuf encountered that crisis of confidence. But she credits her teammates and coach for helping her work through through the lean times.

“There was a moment for three or four games where I went through a dry spell,” Yusuf said. “For a forward not to score a goal, it’s kind of frustrating.”

Enter Herrera, who helped Yusuf navigate the experience.

“There was a game against Aptos and she had five to seven close-range shots that didn’t go in. She was frustrated,” Herrera said. “I told her that means she cares. I relayed to her, ‘You will do everything you can to score when it matters most. If you keep the work ethic up, you’re going to score.’

“Sometimes there are unfair expectations placed on people. I wanted her to play with a sense of freedom.”

And when she was needed the most, Yusuf delivered. In what amounted to an elimination game in the race for the Bay Division championship, Yusuf scored the only goal in rainy, blustery conditions in a 1-0 win over Aragon with two games remaining in the regular season.

Five days later, she helped catapult the Wildcats into first place following a 2-1 win over Menlo-Atherton, scoring both goals. She put Woodside up 1-0 with a goal off a soaring header in the first half. She then doubled the score when she latched on to an Acua Acosta cross-field pass that found Yusuf in stride. She beat her defender and then the goalkeeper to put the Wildcats up 2-0 with seven minutes to play.

Helping Yusuf play with that freedom was the fact that she didn’t have to do it all by herself. She had one of the best midfielders in the league in Ruby Rodriguez, who helped make Yusuf’s job a little easier.

“I love Ruby,” said Yusuf, who played with Rodriguez at the club level and through all four years at Woodside.

“We love playing off each other. We were connecting back and forth. She has the most amazing through balls; perfectly timed.

“Having Ruby in the midfield was definitely a luxury.”

When Yusuf had the ball at her feet, that’s when the magic happened. She was fast enough to run past defenders, but still technical enough to always be in control of the ball, even amid the chaos of defenders trying to lean on her.

“I’ve always been on the taller and bigger side amongst other girls I’ve played with and I used different traits to my advantage,” Yusuf said. “I may not be able to dribble with all these fancy skills, but if I can have the ball at my feet, I can beat defenders with my speed.”

Added Herrera: “One thing that helps is her superior strength. I never saw her get pushed off the ball one time this year. She holds her own.”

Yusuf also believes that having previously played defense, she has an idea of how to beat defenders.

“When I played for [Herrera] before high school, I was a center back. As a defender, it kind of helped me to see how forwards play,” Yusuf said. “What I learned as a defender has helped me learn how to get past that last line of defense.

“Playing defense is really fun and I kind of miss it, but I love scoring, too.”

Herrera said Yusuf still has a defensive mentality, however.

“Imagine she’s running at you to take the ball from you,” Herrera said. “When she loses the ball, she’s not a striker who just stands there. She would make a 30, 40 yard run to win the ball back.”

In the end, however, it was Yusuf’s scoring prowess and mindset that helped lead the Wildcats to the heights they reached this season.

“I definitely had the mindset of, ‘I should have scored.’ I never felt the pressure of, ‘I have to score,’” Yusuf said. “I wanted to score, but I never had that such intense pressure that I must score. It’s OK as forward not to score all the time, but to keep pushing forward.

“I had some difficulties understanding that. It’s OK not to be one who has to score all of them. It only improves my passion to want to improve.”

Yusuf said she doesn’t have plans to play for a university’s NCAA team, but after choosing one based on academics, she intends to play for the university’s club team, which does not have the same demands as the playing on scholarship. Unlike many others, playing in college was never a driving force in the way Yusuf played.

“I could have done more to play (NCAA level soccer). Some players know their freshman year (of high school) they want to play in college. But I liked not having to worry about having to perform at that level,” Yusuf said.

Essentially, not having the pressure of seeking a college scholarship allowed her the freedom to flourish for Woodside.