Glass’ Freeman the 2009 All-Area Girls Soccer Player of the Year

E.C. Glass sophomore outside midfielder Genna Freeman plays soccer like a cross country runner, with the opposing goal serving as her finish line.

“Not only is she technically gifted, Genna just never stops,” Hilltoppers coach Darien McClurg said of The News & Advance player of the year. “She came to Glass with an exceptional fitness level. She’s probably the fittest kid in the area and that’s a real strength of her game.”

After starting at center midfield as a freshman in place of the injured Jen Mawn, Freeman thrived this spring in Glass’ new 3-4-3 formation, comparable to an up-tempo basketball team’s blend of fast-break offense and full-court pressure defense.

“Putting me out wide made me more of an attacking player,” said Freeman, who scored 16 goals and distributed 14 assists for the reigning Western Valley District champion Hilltoppers.

The player of the year honor easily could have gone to midfield mate Mawn, who also stands 5-foot-4, or fellow sophomore Dessi Dupuy, a striker who netted a team-high 25 goals.

Freeman’s ability to both feed and finish assists and her amazing endurance and hustle gave her the nod.

“I try to stay in shape all year because I play soccer year-round,” said Freeman, a member of the state’s Olympic Development Program team who will join Mawn’s Charlottesville-based SOCA travel squad this fall. “That helps me out a lot, especially playing out wide because it’s a ton of running out there.”

McClurg coached Dupuy and Freeman on his Lynchburg United Soccer team over the past five years and was doubly blessed to have both transfer in from Holy Cross as freshmen.

He said Freeman was not only the distributor, but also the recipient of plenty of passes in scoring position because she had the speed to be in the right place at the right time.

“She serves a beautifully flighted ball, left- and right-footed,” McClurg said. “This year, she added a shot to all of that and started to finish around the goal. A lot of Genna’s goals came out of her work ethic. Jen and Dessi and (forward) Ashlea (Caylor) did a good job of finding her. She was willing to make the 45- to 50-yard run, they were able to find her and she was able to finish.”

“Dessi’s the goal scorer, the marquee player,” Jefferson Forest coach Stan Golon added. “Genna does all the work. She has great speed and a great mentality going to goal.”

Freeman said those are qualities shared by most of the Hilltoppers.

“We may be small, but our forwards are extremely fast and we’re a big threat on offense,” she said, noting Dupuy is one of the area’s best at capitalizing on aerial crosses.

Mawn, who set a school record for assists in a season with 16, set up many of Freeman’s scores, often from the top of the box.

“I’ve enjoyed playing with her in high school and she’s a great friend of mine,” Freeman said. “The reason I’m going to SOCA is Jen and I know each other’s play much more and, hopefully, we’ll be able to connect even better next spring at Glass.”

Freeman, who will participate in soccer camps at Liberty University, UNC Greensboro and JMU this summer, has benefited from personalized instruction from former LU player and women’s coach Adam Godwin.

“He’s a great coach and he helps me a lot with my technical skills,” Freeman said. “He’s a great motivator.”

He’s from England and he grew as a player and went to a very high level. I’m going to try to take it that far, but I’m going to take it one step at a time. Hopefully I’ll just keep going and improving and take it to the next level.”