A Quick 60
The Challenge
MSGVarsity.com Sports Talk
High School SportsDesk
Player to Watch: Jenn Peters, Minisink Valley
For most high school athletes, the dream is to simply play just one sport in college. But the idea of competing in two sports at the next level? Borderline impossible.
Except, of course, for Minisink Valley's Jenn Peters. The multi-talented senior will play both soccer and lacrosse next year at Long Island University.
“It would be a challenge for anybody, but Jenn's a very focused and determined person,” Minisink girls soccer coach Erin Beam said. “She's going to be able to put all those eggs in one basket.”
Rest-assured, Peters is human, too. She understand the kind of supreme challenge that awaits.
“I'm going to be dead,” she said with a laugh. “But everybody says if anyone can do it, you can. I have a lot of energy.”
According to Peters' coaches and teammates, it's almost like she has Red Bull coursing through her veins.
“Jenn's very high energy — even in the classroom,” Minisink girls lacrosse coach Billie Hanlon said. “I taught her in health a couple times. You definitely want to bottle it. She's got that spark.”
And that spark has set lacrosse and soccer nets ablaze across Section 9.
As a junior midfielder, the left-handed Peters paced the lacrosse squad with 84 goals and 42 assists. She was one of only two Section 9 players to earn All-American honors. Overall, Peters has a total of 295 goals and 91 assists in three years on varsity.
In soccer, Peters has proven to be one of the best strikers in the Hudson Valley. She racked up 29 goals and five assists last season and has a total of 98 goals and 15 assists for her career.
Teammate Haleigh Svede, a center back on the soccer team, has no doubt Peters will similarly dominate games at the next level.
“Jenn brings excitement to the field,” Svede said. “It is determination and who she is. Whatever she puts her mind to, she can do it.”
Not surprisingly, younger lacrosse and soccer players around Minisink want to be the next Jenn Peters. In fact, Hanlon compared her to former Minisink basketball star Stefanie Dolson, who went on to play at UConn.
“I don't think Jenn realizes how girls look up to her,” Hanlon said. “She's a star.”
In terms of girls sports in Section 9, no star will shine brighter than Peters' in 2012-13.
Visit MSGVarsity.com each weekday this summer as we unveil the next athlete on our Players to Watch list. Click here for the complete list.
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Tri-State lacrosse Top 20: Week 7
HV/WE power rankings: Spring sports
All-Metro boys and girls basketball: 2012-13
All-HV/WE teams: Winter 2012-13
