The 28 goals and 11 assists were evidence that Drew White had a pretty nice senior season with the Camas boys soccer team.
More numbers: 20 consecutive wins, the last of which earned a third state championship for the Papermakers, the second for White and a few of his fellow seniors.
Those measurable accomplishments are part of the reason The Columbian selected White as its All-Region boys soccer player of the year. But the numbers don’t provide a complete picture of White’s impact on the soccer field, nor of soccer’s influence on White.
“He has just matured so much over this last year,” Camas coach Roland Minder said.
White admits that he didn’t always take practice seriously in previous seasons, and was surprised when Minder asked him to share the captain’s role with goalkeeper Zach Anderson.
But it was that role — his favorite part was mentoring younger players on the field — that made this season truly memorable.
“Having Zach as the other captain helped, because we were always competing with each other to see who could show the most captainship,” White said.
It was feedback from coaches with the Sounder FC Academy that helped White realize he needed to focus more on soccer. The message, White said, was: “Drew has all of the athletic ability to play professional soccer. What he doesn’t have is the mental speed of it.”
White said he had to hear that message several times before it sunk in. He started reading books and watching games more closely.
“I just want to give myself the best opportunity at the University of Washington,” he said.
Primarily a defender, White will play college soccer for the Huskies. Last year, he played for a Gresham-based club that won a youth soccer national championship. He plays for the Seattle Sounders FC Adacemy.
This Camas state title ranks right up there among White’s favorite soccer accomplishments.
“To be honest, it ranks a lot higher than you’d expect,” White said. “I wouldn’t say it’s as high as nationals, but it’s just below it. Because this year was so different in that we weren’t expected to just go and win a state championship.”
