From the sports archives: Notre Dame-Belmont's Michelle Ancelj leaves her mark

Three years, two Central Coast Section championships and 46 goals later at Notre Dame-Belmont, Ancelj's premonition was dead-on. The Daily Journal's Girls' Soccer Player of the Year had goosebumps when she learned she had made the varsity team as a freshman for one of the section's elite programs.

"The List" was a piece of paper in one of the school's hallway showing all the names who made the soccer team and Ancelj was so excited and nervous to see if she had made the varsity squad that she made her dad Anton drive her to school early on that cold November day three-and-a-half years ago.

When Ancelj saw her name, she yelled in jubilation and immediately called her dad to share in the good news. Ancelj, who was one of only three freshmen that year to try out for the varsity, remembers thinking to herself after the first practice that "no way was I going to make it." Not only did she make it, but she finished as the West Catholic Athletic League's all-time leading scorer. Not bad considering all of the Division I soccer players the league has produced in the last couple of years.

"I never thought I could accomplish something like that," Ancelj said. "It was amazing, a real big accomplishment."

Ancelj's career achievements left no doubt she was one of the best players in the section during her four years at Notre Dame. She was named WCAL freshman, sophomore and junior player of the year, and this season was runner-up as the league's MVP. In her first two years, the forward/midfielder teamed with Division I standouts Chioma Igwe and Bunny Dickson to help lead the Tigers to a pair of CCS Division II championships, culminating in a three-peat.

The highlight of her career came in Notre Dame's 3-1 win over rival Mitty in the playoff semifinals of her sophomore year. She spurred the team to a 2-0 lead with a goal with six minutes left as the Tigers exacted payback in a big way. Mitty had beaten Notre Dame three times in as many tries up to that point, but the Tigers won when it counted the most.

"That was the best game in terms of emotion in my high school career," Ancelj said. "Mitty had really taken it to us earlier in the season and to beat them was icing on the cake."

Ancelj had the best situation in her freshman and sophomore years. She was able to learn from the best, gaining valuable knowledge from simply watching Igwe, who played at Cal but transferred to national power Santa Clara before last season.

"On those teams, they never let you give up," Ancelj said. "I learned to always fight to the last whistle. That (type of attitude) really stuck with me the rest of my high school years."

Of that, there is little doubt. Ancelj was a 5-foot-3 fireball, exploding to the goal with a ferocity that had opposing players on their heels. She finished with nine goals and eight assists this season as the main target of the opposition.

Being 5-3 never hindered Ancelj; she high-jumped a school-record 5 feet as an eighth-grader at St. Dunstan's Middle School, displaying a combination of power and burst that few could rival. Tigers coach Jason Levine said no one has a better goal sense than Ancelj.

"Her best trait is she's a direct player," Levine said. "When she gets the ball, her mentality is to go to the goal hard. She uses her strength and speed to get by people. She doesn't have a lot of 1-on-1 moves, but once she gets going, you can't stop her. She can shoot from anywhere and put the ball on frame. In practices she'll shoot from some crazy angle and somehow make a high percentage of those shots. It was pretty awesome to watch at times."

Ancelj admitted she was scared of going up for headers when she first started playing the sport at age 9 or 10. But she developed a knack of timing her jump right and, combined with her vertical leap, often beat opponents to 50-50 balls in the air.

Growing up with two older siblings, Ancelj developed a mental and physical toughness that helped her excel at an early age. She always played 1-on-1 against her brother Tony, who was six years her senior. Tony never took it easy on his youngest sister, and Ancelj is grateful.

"He would always beat me and I would always be so mad and frustrated the next day," she said. "After every loss, I always said to myself, 'I'm going to beat him.' It never happened, but I have to thank him because he made me a lot tougher. He didn't take it easy on me either."

Ancelj plans on attending Fordham University in New York, and if everything works out, she'll be on an soccer scholarship by her sophomore year. With a 4.1 GPA, Ancelj earned an academic scholarship from the University of Portland, too. Ancelj isn't sure what she wants to do after she graduates from college, but going to medical school is one option.

That's only appropriate because she was a surgeon on the soccer field, dissecting defenses with razor-sharp precision. And to think: In Ancelj's freshman year, she thought long and hard about trying out for the basketball team.

"I loved basketball," she said. "But it's tough playing against all those tall girls. It wasn't meant to be I guess. I think I made a good choice."