It was opening day for the Lawrence High girls soccer team, and the Cardinals were locked in a war at Hightstown. Amber Wooding, who was a shy freshman just one year ago, was ready to stand firm.
The sophomore collected two goals and an assist in leading Lawrence to a 4-2 victory, and the fuse was lit for a breakout season.
“I think that helped with her confidence this year,” coach Emily Palombo said. “She just elevated her game from there.”
Wooding would not deny it.
“After scoring those two goals my confidence went up a lot going into the season,” she said. “I had a mentality to never give up, bring energy to the team to win as a whole and to always have that fearless look on your face whether we are playing a good team or not.”
It was a far cry from 2022, during which Wooding was trying to find her place.
“Freshman year for me was scary,” she said. “I was very nervous and thought I wasn’t gonna fit in. During the season I wasn’t very talkative as I am now, because I was just always shy. I didn’t communicate well and my head was in a lot of places.”
With her head on straight and her focus in the right spot, Wooding blossomed this past fall. She led Lawrence with 12 goals and added four assists for a team-high 28 points.
“Freshmen come in and they lack that experience of what it’s like to play in the CVC and it’s stressful and nerve wracking,” Palombo said. “When they come in as sophomores they know what to expect and I really think that helped Amber this season. She knew what to expect, she was confident in her abilities. She knew how to take people on and focused more on finishing this season.”
It was something she almost had to do if Lawrence was to continue its streak of non-losing seasons, and Wooding’s effort helped lead it to a 9-8 campaign.
“I was happy with how much I improved from last year when I only had five goals,” she said. “I honestly surprised myself because going into the season we lost some seniors, which meant I had to step up into a goal-scoring role and I think I fulfilled that role by putting 12 in the back of the net.”
Part of the problem last year was Wooding’s tendency to endure a confidence hit if things didn’t go right. Which is basically an issue most freshmen face.
“She’s so fast, she gets herself in open spots but sometimes she’d maybe miss a breakaway and get down on herself,” Palombo said. “But this season we saw a lot of her mental game grow, and her ability to stay calm and shake off what happened and just worry about the next play. Just keep working and know it’s gonna come. She also set teammates up more, which was nice to see as well.”
One thing that helped Amber was her friendship with classmate Becca Boggs, a fellow forward/midfielder who was second on the team with seven goals and led the way with nine assists. The two have developed a potent chemistry.
“Playing with Becca helps me a lot,” Wooding said. “She’s my partner in crime on and off the field. She assists half of my goals, she’s also the reason why I stay positive in the game and I thank her for that.”
An all-around athlete who also plays basketball and runs track (100, 200 meters) for the Cardinals, Wooding began playing soccer at age 6 – with a group of boys.
“I told my parents I wanted to play soccer but they didn’t see me playing any sports at the time,” she recalled. “I invited my dad to a school picnic where he could watch me play. He saw how good I was for my age at the time so he signed me up for rec soccer and moving forward over the years I’ve played on many club teams.”
She began playing basketball in fifth grade “and I became a huge fan of the sport.” Both she and Palombo feel that participating in multi-sports has been a great help in soccer.
“A lot of what she does well translates because she takes some stuff from basketball, like using her body very well, and she’ll be able to turn people,” the coach said. “Her vision of the soccer field helps her in basketball and helps her defensively as well. And there’s her speed in track, which translates to the soccer field. She’s very fast, that helps her. She uses her body so well, and a lot of that comes from boxing out in basketball.”
That actually leads to one of her greatest advantages.
“Her strength is when she knows somebody’s gonna be on her back, she uses her body well to shield and then turn off of them and she finds herself in open space,” Palombo continued. “Sometimes she also knows where to be if someone is playing the ball baseline; and she’s been able to finish those goals. She works really hard. She wants to score, she wants to do well.”
Wooding feels there are even more advantages to jumping from pitch to gym.
“Basketball helps when you have to communicate with your teammates on the court and on the field; knowing where to be in your position is also important, and mentally keeping yourself in the game,” she said. “Basketball is definitely mental and has helped me during this soccer season to keep my head in the game.”
When it comes to soccer, Wooding was a defender and winger “a long time ago, but overall scoring has been my thing. I love the feeling of scoring.”
Palombo has Amber mainly at forward but if the situation calls for it, she will move her to the wing to take advantage of her speed.
“In the beginning of the season I started her on the outside,” the coach said. “When we started to have some injuries we needed to move things around so we put her at forward and she just found a lot of success up there as well. She was mainly a forward at the end of the year but we did start her on the outside at times. If the other team has us beat I may move her out there if we’re trying to exploit a certain side.”
When it comes to scoring, Wooding definitely loves using that speed.
“I like getting the ball played through the defenders or over the top for me to run on to get it and score or go one on one with a defender,” she said. “Doing this makes me use more of my speed and that gives me an advantage.”
Wooding, Boggs and Caelyn LaFlamme are a sophomore nucleus that provides hope for the future, along with freshmen Ava Donnelly and Emma Skinner.
“Just one year of experience makes such a difference,” Palombo said. “We had young players stepping up and some leadership that took the girls under their wings and made them feel comfortable and created a good environment to thrive in.”
It is something that has Amber excited for the next two seasons.
“From a team standpoint, I can definitely see a lot of positives because of the young talent we have performing well in their roles,” she said. “This is a huge plus going into the future because of how much potential and talent we have on this squad.”
And Wooding’s talent will be right in the middle of it all.
Lawrence High School girls’ soccer player Amber Wooding keeps the ball away from opponents during a game this season against Ewing. (Photo by Todd Cloward, Toddc LLC.),
