HELENA — Carroll College women's soccer's Blair Stapleton has been named the Cascade Collegiate Conference’s Women's Soccer Offensive Player of the Week in back-to-back weeks. Stapleton is currently responsible for six of the 16 goals Carroll has scored this season.
But Stapleton doesn't credit her goals, or the honor, to herself.
“I think that it kind of just means taking advantage of my position as a forward on the team. I get a lot of the recognition playing center forward getting the goals, but the buildup is really what matters there. And that comes from all the way from our defense to our midfield to the forwards. So I think just everyone out on the field helps with that,” she said.
The Player of the Week accolade definitely isn’t Stapleton’s only big accomplishment this season. She was also voted team captaini — not a surprising decision after she had been voted the team's Most Inspirational Player in the 2021 season.
“Being a captain on this team is really big. It is such a competitive team. And everyone worked so hard, that it's an honor to be picked as kind of a leader on the team, because we have so many leaders that are labeled as captains that are equally as important. So it was a big honor. And it's really cool,” Stapleton said.
This may be Stapleton’s first time wearing the captain’s band for Carroll, but she’s got her veteran best friend to help her through it.
“Kody Clements has been a captain for two years now. So we're both seniors. But she was a captain last year. And she's also my roommate and my best friend. And she's a great role model as a captain and I kind of looked to her when I'm not really sure how to fill that role. She's always a really good example of that,” she said of the teammate.
Stapleton and her team are now gearing up for conference play, which opens this week.
"I think that we have a very promising season. Like I said, we have a lot of really hard workers and a lot of talent, we had a really big freshman class come in. And that always helps really push everyone to fight for a spot on the team. So I think that as long as we treat our training sessions like games and we're competitive in that way, I think we have a very, very promising season," Stapleton said.
Carroll College women's soccer will open conference play this Friday in an away game against the Corban Warriors.
