Perry earns high marks at McNamara
Waldorf resident named WCAC girls soccer player of the the year
Although she opted not to remain close to home and compete in the Southern Maryland Athletic Conference, Waldorf resident and Bishop McNamara High School senior Kale’a Perry clearly made a name for herself playing girls soccer for the Mustangs in the tough Washington Catholic Athletic Conference.
Perry, who admitted she was zoned to attend Thomas Stone High School, capped her senior year with McNamara by being named the WCAC girls soccer player of the year. Perry, who is headed to Virginia Commonwealth University this fall to play women’s soccer and major in broadcast communications, noted she was motivated to earn the league’s highest honor one year earlier.
“I really thought I was going to get it my junior year,” Perry said of being selected as WCAC girls soccer player of the year as a forward for the Mustangs. “But when I didn’t get it, that motivated me to come back and play harder this season. I really didn’t play as well as I wanted to my first two years, I knew I could do better and that our team could do better.”
Perry had offers from several schools and made several visits but eventually opted for VCU for a variety of reasons. She enjoyed the campus and meeting Rams head coach Lindsey Martin and several of her future teammates and the school also offered her major.
“When I went there on my visit, I just fell in love with the campus,” Perry said of joining a team that went 9-6-3 overall last season. “I also really liked the coaches. They made me feel like I would fit right in right away. I also enjoyed meeting some of the players. They also made me feel like I was part of their family. Best of all, they had my major.”
One of the VCU players who join Perry on the Rams’ is a former WCAC counterpart, rising junior defender Samantha Ferguson, who played for the Academy of the Holy Cross in Montgomery County. But in the months before she heads to VCU to begin her college playing career and education, Perry spent last weekend competing in three games in a college showcase in Orlando, Florida for the Maryland United U-18 squad.
“We had the chance to play three games, one game each on Friday, Saturday and Sunday,” said
Perry, who scored at least one goal in each game for the Mustangs this past season. “I have already committed, but it’s always good to play in front of your college coaches. There were a lot of college coaches there. Even though I have committed, a lot of other girls still have not. But its always good to keep working on your game against really good players.”
Maryland United coach Steve Campbell has watched Perry develop into one of the more prolific goal scorers in the area and noted that she is also among the contenders for the Gatorade Maryland Girls Soccer Player of the Year for 2019. Campbell has seen a bevy of Maryland United products, both male and female, compete at major Division I colleges over the last 20 years.
“She’s definitely for a strong left leg and she’s capable of scoring goals from anywhere,” Campbell said. She’s really enhanced her skills over the last three years. She’s going to do well at VCU. She has all the skill sets to be a major player at the next level. Anyone who is their conference player of the year deserves to be on the short list for Gatorade Player of the Year.”