There is more to being a goal scorer than just having ability. A hunger to find the back of the net is paramount for a striker. Not everyone wants the responsibility and not everyone can handle it.
And then there is Elizabeth Buchert.
“A hundred percent I want to score,” the Hopewell Valley Central High freshman said. “I’ve always had that drive. The second I get on the field my goal is to score, because that’s what helps my team win. I just have that passion for it, that’s what I like to do – get the ball in the net. That’s my job.”
And she does it well. As of Oct. 15 Buchert led the Bulldogs with 16 goals, which put her third in the Colonial Valley Conference. Her three assists helped place her third in points with 35.
It has been quite a debut for the ninth-grader, whose team opened state tournament play Oct. 26.
Coach John McGinley was immediately impressed with Buchert’s skills during Hopewell’s first summer league game.
“You could see right away she was a good player and had a good touch on the ball,” McGinley said. “She’s got good size. She’s gonna keep getting bigger and stronger but she just had a kind of a calmness about her. You could see she had a good understanding of what she was doing up top.”
Despite the early excitement around Buchert as she showed her talents, the veteran coach was not ready to pass judgment. He had been burned before thinking he had a star before they proved it.
“I always say ‘Let’s let them play in a game,’” McGinley said. “I always try to pump the brakes and just say let’s see what happens. I’ve seen it not work out before. Practice is one thing, and preseason is one thing. But I never want to anticipate or expect a young player to contribute that much because I feel it’s too much pressure. I don’t want to get ahead of myself.”
The season started for real against West Windsor-Plainsboro South and Buchert collected two goals and an assist.
And, well, McGinley’s foot is off the brake. “We thought she could be pretty good,” he said, “but I’m not sure I thought it would be this good.”
Buchert has taken Mercer County by storm. Through Hopewell’s 9-6-2 start, she had six multi-goal games and tallied four in a win over West Windsor-Plainsboro North. Much like her coach, Elizabeth had no idea she would score this much.
“My goal was just to get on varsity as a freshman,” she said. “This has definitely been a surprise, but it’s a great opportunity.”
What’s most impressive — and a credit to Hopewell’s upperclassmen — is that the team has embraced Buchert, whereas oftentimes jealousies permeate a team when a freshman is getting the glory.
“The girls are really supportive of me and they’re all so kind,” Buchert said. “Right from the beginning at tryouts and preseason they were so welcoming to the freshmen. They were really sweet. They’ve all been great to me.”
McGinley feels it is just a case of teammates doing unto Elizabeth as she does to them. “She’s a good team player; when her friends score she’s excited,” the coach said. “Something I thought that was interesting, is when she scored her first goal, I never saw a team so excited because they really like her. She’s a good kid, she’s a freshman who kind of blends in and they want her to do well, which is great.”
Buchert began playing for her friend’s mom in Hopewell Valley rec in first grade. She elevated to Hopewell travel and in seventh grade joined the Next Level Soccer Academy, where she still plays.
“Going from rec to travel is really interesting,” Buchert said. “Rec is more for fun and once you join the travel team you get really close to your team. All my teams are my family. I love them. It’s definitely a supportive environment. The level of play is harder but once you settle in it’s amazing.”
From the start, there was never any question where Elizabeth wanted to play.
“I’ve always been a striker,” she said. “I usually play striker or out wide. Sometimes I’m an attacking mid. I’ve never been a defensive person.”
Aside from training with HVCHS and her travel teams, Buchert puts in the time on her own.
“Sometimes I go in the backyard and work on shooting technique,” she said. “Sometimes I put cones out. I like working on my one-v-one skill moves. All you really need is a half inch of space to get a shot off. As long as you’re able to cut across and get that one inch of space where you can get a shot off; it will work if you have a good enough shot.”
Buchert brought her skill and knowledge to HVCHS but had to endure a pretty stressful first day of school. It was not only her initial foray into high school, but she had her first varsity game that same afternoon.
“I was really nervous,” she said. “I got through my first day of high school, which was actually pretty good. Then we went on the bus to the game. It was all pretty good after that.”
Like most natural soccer players, Buchert developed a sense of calm stepping on the field.
“The whole day was definitely nerve wracking at first, but soccer was a good way to end the day,” she said. “I took out a lot of that nervous energy and used it on the field. Sometimes I get nervous on the day of a game but I usually block it out of my mind in class because school comes first. When school’s over, that’s when I can start getting my head in the game for soccer.”
Scoring two goals certainly helped Buchert’s confidence, and also made her less nervous in the ensuing matches. Her natural ability took over from there.
In analyzing his forward’s strengths, McGinley said it starts with her knack of knowing just where to shoot the ball.
“When she’s in the box and the ball’s on her foot, she has real good accuracy and good pace as to where to place it,” the coach said. “She sees the goal well. When she gets one of those shots where you think she’s gonna score, you’re almost shocked when she doesn’t. She’s got good composure. There she is and boom! She finds that corner.”
Buchert said she has benefitted from centering crosses from wingers Gianna Azara, Chloe LiVecchi and Katie Clarke, or through balls from Maura McGrath and Delaney Ross when the Bulldogs build the attack from the back.
Or, if they want to go over the top.
“Even our back line, Katie Reinhart and Clara Mayer, if they’re under pressure in the back they know they can find her and play to her,” McGinley said. “It’s right down the middle. They look for her to outlet the ball to. All of them try to find her.”
And while she often converts passes from others, Buchert can go it alone when necessary.
“What probably surprised me is she can go one-on-one and she has beaten kids,” McGinley said. “If she gets space she has the opportunity to get around them. She also has long strides. If she gets a ball over the back line she’s hard to catch. She’s deceptively fast. She just kind of flows. It looks like she’s barely running. So she’s got a combination of things working for her.”
Buchert knows, however, that she’s not the whole show. If the shot is not there, she’s happy to lay it off to a teammate who has a better opportunity.
“I try and pass and get other girls to score,” she said. “I think it’s important that everyone gets their chance. Usually it’s a coincidence that I’m up there and I score but I always look for open people.”
When a player averages one goal per game – which Buchert had done through 16 games – it’s a little more than coincidence. It is a combination of skill and strong work ethic, which Elizabeth possesses. And while she’s willing to pass off, she will take any shot that is available and works on making her shot more powerful.
“I believe you miss a hundred percent of the shots you don’t take,” she correctly calculated. “So I do take shots and whether they go in or not, I definitely want it a lot so I try to shoot the ball.”
McGinley noted that she has taken some hits from opposing teams at times, most likely in an effort to slow her down. But they never knock her out.
“She wants to play,” McGinley said. “She doesn’t like it when I say ‘You need a break today.’ She’s quiet but she has that burning desire. She wants to be good.”
So far, she has been just that.
Elizabeth Buchert (left) in action for Hopewell Valley soccer against Princeton.,
