Soccer: Ferguson and her quirky rituals lead Wildcats this year (04-20-07)
By Chuck McGill (Daily Staff Writer)
FRONT ROYAL — Before each game, Warren County's Colby Ferguson goes through her pregame warmups just like any other high school girls soccer player.
She zigs and zags around the field, her blond ponytail bouncing as she races toward the goal to launch a shot off her trusty right foot. She stops to chat with teammates and acknowledges music over the loudspeakers by rhythmically hopping in place to the tune.
And, without fail, Ferguson does it all while holding a bottle of apple juice.
"It's strange," goalkeeper Shauna Manovich said. "Every game she always has apple juice. I don't know the particular reason. It's really like a tradition."
Ferguson says she began the pregame ritual last season, when she drank apple juice prior to one of the best games of her junior season. Now, the sweet and tangy drink is a must-have before any contest.
"If she doesn't have it, it's like a bad omen," senior Amanda Riddagh said.
Ferguson's reliance on a few sips of apple juice is one of her many quirks.
Her teammates talk about her in high regard, tabbing her as intelligent and driven, a leader and a friend, and a stickler for grammar. But they also seem perplexed by her fruit juice cravings and desire to spend her career playing in the dirt.
Ferguson just sees herself as a bookworm who someday hopes to parlay her love of ancient history into a career in archaeology, and perhaps make her name prominent in academia.
"She is very unique," Riddagh said. "When I first met her she seemed so proper. Then she tells me she wants to go into archaeology because she loves digging in the dirt. She's just a bit of both worlds."
Ferguson came to Warren County during the 2005-06 school year after spending six years at the academically challenging Wakefield School in The Plains. It was at Wakefield that Ferguson's love affair with classical history began, triggered by her exposure to ancient Roman history in the fifth grade.
Ferguson, who plans to enroll at the University of Richmond in the fall, became fascinated with archaeology after classical history piqued her interest.
"I don't want to sit behind a desk and type on a computer all day," Ferguson said. "I want to go out and dig in the dirt."
The Wildcat senior, who will lead her team against Liberty in a Northwestern District contest tonight, is as impressive on the field as she is off it.
She leads Warren County (6-2-1, 4-2-1) in goals with 11, which eclipses her preseason goal of 10, and has been a key cog in the quick ascension of the Wildcat soccer program.
"This season we came into it knowing we were going to be a pretty good team," Ferguson said. "We realize we have a lot of talent on this team. If we work together, we can do a lot more than we can as individuals.
"We don't care who scores, just so somebody scores."
In her effort to continue to exhibit maturity beyond her years, Ferguson is quick to deflect any praise for her individual achievements.
"I wanted to push up a little more this year to see what I could do," she said after playing stopper last season. "This season, just because the team is playing so well together, I get a lot of balls I can do something with. Everything I've done is the result of teamwork. Anything that I've achieved this season is a result of the team."
That team-first mentality is just how Ferguson operates.
"She's always finding ways to get better and help others get better," Riddagh said. "She's always positive and does what's best for the team, not best for her."
Ferguson will have the opportunity to continue her soccer career at Richmond, where she has accepted an offer to walk on for the Spiders. She says she will play as long as it doesn't affect her studies.
"I don't want to have to put soccer over my education because that's something that's important to me," Ferguson said. "I know I'm not going to get much playing time, but I'm excited about being on the team."
Ferguson hopes her education at Richmond will put her on a path to making a discovery that will "change the way people think."
She says her main interest is ancient Greek history, and someday hopes to work at Mycenae, an archaeological site near Athens.
"Most people will say, 'Oh, she'll never do it,'" said her mother, Andrea Ferguson. "When she says she's going to do something, she usually does it. We are certainly not going to be the ones to tell her she can't do something."
Therefore, Ferguson has the world — and her soccer ball — on a string.
"She's pretty fierce on the soccer field and she's just an all-around good person," Riddagh said. "She can get dirty and at the same time be very nice and sophisticated.
