WATERTOWN – A four-goal day would be good enough for just about anyone. Not for Watertown-Mayer’s Maris Heun.
Despite racking up four goals in W-M’s 4-0 win over Rockford Tuesday night, the senior felt she left some chances out there. Coming out of the game late in the second half, Royals coach Jospeh Perez told Heun what an impressive game she had scoring four goals. Huen’s response – I should have had six.
“That’s who she is,” Royals coach Joseph Perez said. “She always thinking bigger things. As a coach, who wouldn’t appreciate that? She’s striving for better things.”
Heun recorded a hat trick for the Royals in the first half alone. Then in the second half came the milestone, a goal she set for herself.
“It feels amazing,” Heun said. “It was one of the personal goals I set for myself before the season. I like to set goals for the team and for myself. It’s just something to strive for. It keeps me motivated for that time in the middle of the season where you’re just trying to get through the motion of things.”
Through six games this season, Heun has already tallied 10 goals this season. She has two hat tricks already, but she’ll be the first to tell you it’s not all about her.
“There’s no way I could do without them,” Heun said about her teammates. “I had some beautiful passes from them. You can’t score goals without your teammates. It’s not an individual effort. It’s a team effort. You have girls hustling and passing the ball. It’s just something I couldn’t do without them.”
Heun draws a lot of attention from opposing teams. She’s scored 10 of the 14 goals for W-M this season, but she’s up to the challenge and pressure other teams put on her.
“We depend on Maris quite a bit,” Perez said. “She likes that. She likes to be leading the pack. She doesn’t shy away from the attention. She doesn’t shy away from the fact that other teams literally prepare for her. She still goes out there and takes care of business.”
“It’s definitely something I like taking as a challenge,” Heun added. “Challenges are fun and they make the game more interesting. I just like to move around a lot and talk with Carly up top. We do very well up top talking to each other and constantly changing to keep that pressure off both of us. It’s super nice to have teammates that are completely willing to help you out.”
Through six games, W-M is 4-1-1 overall. With a senior-led team, they’ll be looking to carry the momentum they have going through the rest of the regular season.
“The thing is, last year taught us to be flexible,” Perez said. “We’ve had to be this year too with so many changes from minute to minute. We’ve had to do the same thing this year with the field not ready and having to give up some home games. Even with that, the kids just show up. They just want to play. We’re pretty heavy on seniors. They want to make sure they have a productive senior year.”
“I think we’re definitely getting things together,” Heun added. “It was super nice to be able to play at home. You could definitely tell we were excited with the energy. Now that we have home games mixed with away games, our energy is just going to get higher. This was an important conference game so our momentum will hopefully carry us forward.”
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Follow Kip Kovar on Twitter: @Kovar_HJSports