Highland’s Ferguson enjoys successful freshman season on soccer field at SWIC
To say that Jaqlyn Ferguson’s first season of college soccer was a ringing success would definitely be an understatement.
Ferguson, a 2019 Highland High School graduate, took her talent to Southwestern Illinois College to play soccer for the Blue Storm women’s team and proved to be a key part of the Blue Storm’s very successful 2019 fall season.
SWIC, with Ferguson playing defensive center-mid in most games, rolled to an impressive 17-2-2 season that ended with a regional final appearance in early November.
“I feel like it was one of my best years of soccer ever,” Ferguson said. “Being with the team, it was definitely a really good experience and our season was really good.”
Ferguson came into fall practices with major offensive capabilities as she led the Lady Bulldogs with 11 goals as a senior. As a freshman, however, she was needed much more as a defensive presence playing defensive center mid and other spots on coach Juergen Huettner’s squad.
On defense, Ferguson excelled in playing her position solidly while also providing timely help to her midfield and defensive teammates.
“I feel like I did a really good job just keeping my position and being able to find those marks to play the ball to and just really help out in the middle (of the field),” Ferguson said. “The middle is kind of the main part of the game, so I felt like I did a really good job of being able to play with those older girls.”
“I played a lot of different positions and they moved me around (the field) but I mostly played center-mid,” Ferguson said.
She only scored two goals during the regular season but her work at center-mid and on defense helped the Blue Storm notch 13 shutouts, including wins over Wabash Valley College, State Fair Community College, Heartland Community College, and Southwest Tennessee College of Memphis.
In the early days of her freshman season last fall, Ferguson found the college game to be a vastly different animal from what she encountered playing at Highland. Those early weeks included several days of two-a-day practices which took more than getting a little used to.
“My first impression was that it’s a lot different than high school,” Ferguson said. “It’s a lot more commitment and a lot more challenging, but I loved every minute of it.”
Ferguson also noted the game was a decidedly different pace than what she dealt with playing at the prep level at Highland High School.
“Just the pace of the game, going from high school to college-level is a lot different,” Ferguson said. “I wasn’t expecting the pace of the game to be so quick and we really had to be in shape, we had to be able to play the whole game.”
Online classes, gearing up for sophomore season
As she finishes up her spring classes at home in Highland online, Ferguson is beginning to look at what she needs to improve on as she starts preparing for her sophomore season in the not too distant future.
“I definitely need to improve on my first touch (of the ball),” Ferguson said. “In the middle, your first touch (of the ball) is kind of a big deal and then also just communicating better (with teammates).”
Another aid to improving those skills for Ferguson will be hopefully getting in some more time in the summer soccer league she played in with the team last summer at Althoff High School.
That league is tentatively set to start in late May, but may be delayed or canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic situation.
“We will probably play summer soccer again,” Ferguson said. “I’m not really sure with the whole virus (situation) going around right now what is going to happen with that, but we most likely will.”