One major milestone down, Myrtle Beach’s Gordon now has an elusive one in her sights

Well before her first varsity fixture with Myrtle Beach, Tristan Gordon understood exactly what type of tradition she was stepping into.

“Of course, you always want to play your best,” she said, “but we also kind of want to keep the region championship with Myrtle Beach, it’s become kind of a longstanding tradition.”

And during her past few years wearing the Myrtle Beach crest, she has done a good job serving as a keeper of the realm.

Particularly this past soccer season, with Gordon scoring 31 goals while assisting on 10 more. For her work, she earned Region VII-4A girls soccer Player of the Year honors, along with being a Class 4A all-state selection.

She’s not done raking in honors, though, as the Myrtle Beach standout is The Sun News’ Toast of the Coast Girls Soccer Player of the Year. It is the second straight year in which she has received the honor, one that for her does not grow old.

“This is a big honor,” Gordon said. “Because this is something not just for our region, but along the coast … so I’m particularly proud of this.”

Over the course of her career, she has become one of the more prolific scorers the Palmetto State has to offer.

As a freshman, she tallied a career-high 36 goals, following that up with 35 more as a sophomore. This past soccer campaign was the third in a row in which she hit the back of the next 30 or more times.

However, one of those proved particularly special.

“I think the highlight of my year was scoring my 100th goal,” Gordon said. “Honestly, I didn’t really know it was going to be my 100th [until] I got it. It really was an awesome honor.”

Oddly enough, the Myrtle Beach standout’s scoring tally could be more impressive — if not for a policy set for her coach, Blair Mueller, limiting goals for each player in an effort to keep all team members engaged and involved. That’s just fine, though, as Gordon would rather make waves with her teammates rather than doing so alone.

“We’re building a strong bond that cannot be broken,” she said. “These are people I want to be my friends for some time to come, and winning with them is fun.”

A lot of that satisfaction comes along with knowing how difficult it is to succeed in their league, Region VII-4A, where rivals North Myrtle Beach and St. James pose quite the threat each year.

“Each year, it’s tough … you come to expect pretty tight competition (when playing those teams),” Gordon said. “They both have good club players, but we want to play our game and not allow them to dictate how we will play.”

The formula has worked out well, with the Seahawks going 34-12 over the past two years and winning a league title in both. Myrtle Beach has continued its roll in the postseason, advancing to the Lower State semifinal round once again, falling to fellow perennial powerhouse Hilton Head Island, 1-0.

Getting over the hump remains a goal Gordon hopes to achieve in her last year wearing the Myrtle Beach crest.

“Of course, we’d like to win region, but getting as far as we can in the playoffs is a goal we have too,” she said. “Myrtle Beach has always been pretty good at soccer. Hopefully, we can continue in that tradition.”

This story was originally published June 26, 2017 at 2:30 PM with the headline "One major milestone down, Myrtle Beach’s Gordon now has an elusive one in her sights."