In a perfect world, one of the most successful team players in Northern Kentucky soccer would deserve an end-of-season nod of approval.
After all the goals, all the assists, all the wins, the championships, the honors, the accolades, not to mention the personal sacrifices, Bishop Brossart’s Emma Sandfoss would merit a year-end send-off worthy of one of the area’s best seniors, a just reward for a remarkable career.
But this is not a perfect world as fate would demonstrate to the mighty Sandfoss. Her senior season on the soccer field ended before it started. She suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee while playing for the Mustangs at July’s annual Bluegrass State Games.
The Bishop Brossart girls soccer season started Aug. 7 without Sandfoss on the field for the first time in three years. The midfielder was standing on the sideline in a knee brace, refusing to believe her eyes.
“It was upsetting,” Sandfoss said. “The part that’s been the hardest is I had goals and I won’t get to achieve them. I can achieve different goals, but it’s not the same. All I can do now is help these girls as much as I can without playing.”
To all the people close to the seemingly unbreakable Sandfoss, it didn’t make any sense. This is a sturdy and limber, well-coordinated, well-conditioned, highly-trained 5-foot-6 athlete who made herself a great player through sheer force of personal will power. Why would a lifelong love like soccer be so unceremoniously ripped away from such a hard-working, well-meaning student-athlete?
“Talk about a gut punch. This was it,” said Mustangs coach Andy Smith ” We were expecting big things from Emma. But she was hurt pretty bad. Just a huge loss and devastating to team morale.”
Just like that, her soccer career was over. Sandfoss has played her last organized match. Although she may one day play recreationally, she has decided not to play soccer at the collegiate level where she’ll focus on academic priorities with an interest in physical therapy.
“After thinking about it a lot, I realized that it might be an opportunity for a new chapter in my life after soccer,” Sandfoss said. “Right now, playing competitively is not something I want to do after high school.”
With no warning, one of the area’s best soccer players has resigned herself to hanging it up well before the fairytale story should be ending. And she hasn’t even turned 18.
“She worked so hard in the offseason which makes it even more painful,” coach Smith said. “She has a happy face on, but I’ve known her for a while and I know this is really hard for her at times. She wants to be out there playing soccer with her teammates. I want her out there.”
It’s not to be. But that doesn’t mean Sandfoss goes without her career-ending wrap-up. She’s still getting it, just two months earlier than expected.
Sandfoss, a two-sport athlete in soccer and track and field, has had such a stellar career at Bishop Brossart her story and her list of accomplishments can’t be shoehorned into a small space. So, we’re giving her a big space.
Sandfoss began her stay at Bishop Brossart auspiciously enough. She was a winner of one of four annual Al Keller III Tuition Assistance Scholarships as an incoming freshman, earning a $1,000 award attesting to a student’s outstanding artistic accomplishments.
While also running track for the Mustangs, Sandfoss fashioned a career in soccer that netted praise from coaches in the form of team bestowments, all-tournament team honors, all-district and all-region decorations and an impressive final line of statistics.
Here they are.
Sandfoss scored 33 goals and assisted on 14 others in 52 career matches. She scored three goals in her first five matches as a freshman. She tied for the team lead as a sophomore with 18 goals. She ranked second on the team as a junior with 12 goals and was third with nine assists.
More importantly to Sandfoss are team accomplishments during her stay. Bishop Brossart has won a 37th District championship, a pair of 10th Region titles, three All “A” Classic 10th Region crowns, and the first state tournament match in program history last season.
Bishop Brossart put together a 37-26-6 overall record and a regional mark of 25-8 with Sandfoss playing.
“She’s been one of the best offensive players at Bishop Brossart,” Smith said. “She’s more like an assistant coach now. Some of us are calling her coach Sandfoss.”
Sandfoss didn’t want to call it quits after the injury. She still wanted to be with the team and help her teammates. Aiding with instruction and making sure everybody is on the same page seemed like a natural extension of her playing days, now sadly over.
Happily, though, Sandfoss remains a steadfast presence for Bishop Brossart.
“She’s a captain. As a coaching figure, she’s credible because the girls have played with her and they know how good she is,” Smith said. “She was and still is the heartbeat of this team.”