soccerNM.com

By Glen Rosales
soccerNM.com Editor

ALBUQUERQUE -- For Jamie Fletcher, hearing that she was named a scholar All-American by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America was not that big of a deal.

DN's Fletcher Named NSCAA Scholar
All-American

"I guess it's cool," she said. "But my mother takes more pride in these awards than I do."

In a way that's understandable as the Del Norte senior has so many awards it's pretty hard to keep track of them all.

Just this past season, she was on the District 5-4A first team and the district player of the year, then topped that off with a spot on the 4A All-State team and the class player of the year.

Earning a national honor, however, is always something special for someone from NM, even one who was recruited by colleges across the country before settling on Kansas as her school of choice.

Fletcher, however, nearly didn't play for the Knights this season as she was concerned that her time playing high school ball would hinder progress in an effort to earn a college scholarship.

In the end, though, the desire to please her parents led back to the Knights for her final season.

"I'm glad I did," she admitted. "It was senior year and I wanted to have fun."

But Fletcher wasn't too much fun for her opponents as she finished tied for 11th in points with 37 on 10 goals and 17 assists.

And now she's back with her club team, Albuquerque United FC, looking to make a run at a state and regional  before heading to the midwest in the fall.

The Jayhawks won Fletcher's signature through combination of factors, including their controlled style of attack, the beauty of the campus and, surprisingly, the success of their basketball program.

"I'm a huge basketball fan so I wanted to go somewhere where basketball was important too," she said.

Although the Lobos program has been on the rise, Fletcher said she never considered staying local to play because "I wanted to get far away from Albuquerque."

As for what she's going to study, that's still up in the air.

"I"m really good at math," Fletcher admits. "But I don't like it because there's too much homework. I really like film, but I haven't taken any film classes."

Whatever she ends up doing, it's a fairly safe bet that Fletcher will apply the same drive and determination that made her a scholar All-American.