Historic hundred: Madison's Taylor Huff reaches 100-goal milestone - Mansfield News Journal

Jake Furr Mansfield News Journal

Published 1:04 AM EDT Aug 22, 2020

BELLVILLE - With her team up 4-0, Madison senior Taylor Huff could finally relax.

During a 5-0 win over Clear Fork on Friday which kicked off the high school soccer season, Huff felt comfortable being the facilitator. But in the back of her mind, she knew what one goal would mean.

After watching freshman Nevaeh Lewis score a hat trick in the first half and Sierra Lykins add the exclamation goal early in the second half to give the Colts a commanding 4-0 lead, Huff decided it was time to go for a goal she has had her mind on since the end of the 2019 season which saw the Lady Rams play for the Division II state title.

As a freshman, Huff scored 34 goals for the most amazing breakout seasons in Richland County soccer history. As a sophomore, she scored 31 more leading her team to another district championship. Last season, during that historic run to the state championship game, Huff knocked in 34 more goals meaning she came into her senior season with exactly 99 goals. She would have loved to score her 100th in the state championship game, perhaps a game-winner, but it didn't happen that way.

With 18:16 left in Friday night's match with Clear Fork, Huff dribbled more than 50 yards to the front of the goal and tapped in No. 100.

"It is a good accomplishment,'" Huff said. "It didn't come easy because I spent much of the first half distributing so much because Nevaeh was open so much so why not pass it to her and let her score? I don't need to do all the work and she was amazing. I am so proud of her. After we got up by four, I figured I could take some chances so it was nice to get that 100th goal."

Before play could resume, Huff ran to midfield, scooped up the ball and ran it to the sidelines for a keepsake. The Rams replaced the ball with one of their own game balls for the year.

"At this point, it is my 100th goal so I am taking it," Huff said. "We will replace it for them. I feel like either my first or this one was my most memorable because I put in so much work over quarantine so to be able to get this goal and even just to play was something special."

While she thought back to her most memorable goal, like any perfectionist, Huff couldn't help but to think of the ones she missed.

"I missed a wide-open chance in the middle of the second half," Huff said. "I should have scored it then, but I got more opportunities so it all worked out."

Right there for all 100 goals was her dad and head coach, Zac Huff. But as her father, he has been there for even more goals. He knew his daughter had a special talent at a young age and wanted to help her achieve that potential.

"When she was six, my friend and I started the Mansfield Crew and she was playing with my oldest daughter on the 10U team and Taylor was playing on that team at six and she was dominating," Huff said. "She was one of the best players out there at six and we pushed her until she turned 10 and she chose to go out of town and play on the club teams in Cleveland."

It was that self-motivation at the age of 10 that helped Huff become a 3-time All-American and a 100-career goal scorer at the high school level with an entire year left to play.

"She is self-driven, self-motivated," Huff said. "She has a plan and a regimen where the whole week is planned out. Actually, the whole month and even year is planned out. That is why she is scheduled to sign with Tennessee. She has put in the work and then some." 

Perhaps the hardest she had to work was to get that 100th goal after dribbling down on breakaways three different times before she finally put on in the net on Friday.

"I told her that she worked her butt off to get that 100th goal," Huff said. "She deserved that one. There were a few times where she would dribble from end to end and come up empty."

She finally found the back of the net for the 100th time. A successful soccer player at Madison himself, Zac Huff admits his daughter puts his numbers to shame.

"Not 100," Huff said with a laugh when asked how many career goals he scored. "She has me beat. We went to the state semifinals in my sophomore year, but yeah."

So now that the individual milestone is out of the way, Taylor Huff now turns her attention on a team accomplishment, a state championship. With the work ethic and drive she showed by becoming good enough to score 100-career goals, there is no doubt she is going to do everything she can to help her team bring home that state title trophy.

"It is a dad and a coach's dream to have her and her work ethic on the field," Zac Huff said.

jfurr@gannett.com

740-244-9934

Twitter: @JakeFurr11

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Historic hundred: Madison's Taylor Huff reaches 100-goal milestone - Mansfield News Journal
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