Northern Star: Addison Sandman
Co-Captain for Cloquet/Carlton girls soccer team
CLOQUET, Minn.- As the Cloquet/Carlton girls soccer team hunts for its fourth-straight Section 7AA title, Addison Sandman has become a critical part of the Lumberjackets’ success at midfield.
“In my opinion, without the midfield, there wouldn’t be a soccer team,” says Sandman, who’s a co-captain in her senior season.
“(Addison)’s the best, my favorite person to play with,” says junior Lauren Hughes, who shares the midfield with Sandman. “She always keeps me in line. And I feel like I do the same to her. (I) Feel like anything that comes from her is always coming from a good place. I feel like it’s just easy to talk to her.”
“She’s very defensive and offensive,” says senior teammate Natalia Hernandez. “It’s like she’s the perfect mixture, and that’s perfect for the midfield position. A lot of the time, she saves us. If there’s a mistake, she always tries to get the ball. She’s always willing to, like, weirdly head it in the air, and she just jumps for it. She’s just really good.”
Perhaps Sandman’s greatest ability comes from her confidence to communicate with her teammates.
“I am the talker on the field,” Sandman laughed. “I mean, there’s not a game goes by where I don’t talk.”
But she also uses her speaking abilities to mediate in gametime situations. “If anyone has problems at all, they kind of bring it to me, and then I vocalize them to the coaches, or if problems need to be resolved, like I definitely am not afraid to vocalize that,”
Her communication skills have also helped her make friends off the pitch, like Hernandez.
“I actually moved here in ninth grade,” Hernandez explained. “(Addison) was the first person that talked to me when I moved here. She was just really welcoming when I first got to the team, and, like, warm hearted. So yeah, she’s definitely one of the kindest players on the team.”
Sandman undoubtedly plays a vital role in the Lumberjacks’ lineup, but during her time at midfield, she recognizes how everyone else plays a key role in putting Cloquet/Carlton above the competition.
“I love how every, like, everyone is so individualized,” Sandman explained. “You know, everyone brings different areas of the team. Like Natalia, she brings this fire to the team. Lauren, she brings this competitiveness to the team. And I bring the communication, talking aspect of the team, and everyone else just brings different aspects of the team that just we complement each other very well, and when we all come together as a team, we are unstoppable.”
Cloquet/Carlton’s season continues on Thursday at Two Harbors before traveling to Duluth Denfeld on Monday, September 16.
