Gordon’s play registers loud for Myrtle Beach girls soccer team
Blair Mueller is going to ask her shy standout to do even more.
The Myrtle Beach coach has watched as Tristan Gordon has become one of the preeminent scorers in the state. The Toast of the Coast Girls Soccer Player of the Year added 35 goals this spring as a sophomore after a 36-goal campaign to open her varsity career.
But if anything has become apparent to Mueller, words are less natural to Gordon than her offense.
“The girls on the team have tried to get her to be more outspoken,” Mueller said. “I think that’s going to be her biggest challenge in the future. She needs to be a leader. She needs to be more of a vocal player instead of just outrunning everyone.”
So far, that latter part has worked out pretty well.
Gordon was the primary weapon for a Myrtle Beach team that advanced to the Class AAA Lower State finals for just the second time in school history, courtesy of playoff wins over Lakewood, Airport and perennial powerhouse Brookland-Cayce.
Gordon scored five postseason goals, although by that point it was almost expected. Not only did she match her total from last year’s playoffs (in one fewer game), she held up the same type of offense she had produced during the regular season.
“Most of it, it comes from the balls that my teammates give me and how they can set me up in front of the goal,” Gordon said. “You just always have to be on your game. I’m kind of shocked. I didn’t know I had that many. I guess I’m proud of it.”
She has certainly earned that right.
In just two seasons, those 71 goals have put her on pace to finish among the top scorers in South Carolina High School League history. By keeping the status quo, she would finish ahead of Mueller – who scored 134 during her own standout career at North Myrtle Beach – and possibly as high as second place with a slight spike.
Oddly enough, it is Mueller who has kept Gordon’s scoring from sky-rocketing.
The coach maintains a policy limiting goals for each player to keep everyone else involved. Gordon has racked up 10 hat tricks in her career, and she’s been allowed to top that figure just twice, against Gilbert in a playoff game last year and this year in the region showdown with North Myrtle Beach.
“If I let her score as many as she could, she would score a lot more goals,” Mueller said. “… She probably could have scored close to 15-20 more goals if I allowed her to.”
Not that Gordon hasn’t already established herself at her current figure, especially given that she piled up 21 assists, as well.
She tallied at least one goal in all but four games this year. Eighteen of her goals came in region games, and her last two came in the defining win over Brookland-Cayce.
As for the other deal? Well, it’s a work in progress that started prior to last year during preseason conditioning.
“The first couple practices, she was really quiet,” said Mueller, whose start with the program mirrored Gordon’s. “They told me I wasn’t really going to have a goal scorer. No one really knew who Tristan was. In our first scrimmage, she scored a hat trick.
“She doesn’t smile after she scores. She’s like ‘OK. On to the next one.’ ”
And the next one. And the next one.
Ian Guerin: ian@ianguerin.com, @iguerin
Editor’s note
This is the second installment of an eight-day series featuring the spring Toast of the Coast teams. Tomorrow: Boys soccer.
The team
Player of the Year
Tristan Gordon
School: Myrtle Beach
Class: Sophomore
Position: Forward
Notable: Class AAA All-State selection was also the Region VII-AAA Player of the Year after scoring 35 goals and adding 21 assists for the Seahawks’ Lower State runner-up squad.
Cassidy Posma
School: Myrtle Beach
Class: Senior
Position: Midfielder
Notable: Class AAA All-State selection helped Seahawks to the Lower State finals by scoring 12 goals and adding 11 assists. First-team All-Region VII-AAA selection.
Gabby Moore
School: Myrtle Beach
Class: Senior
Position: Goalkeeper
Notable: All-Region VII-AAA selection recorded 11 shutouts on the season while allowing a total of just seven goals for an average of 0.38 goals per game.
Jessica Preedom
School: Waccamaw
Class: Senior
Position: Forward
Notable: Area’s lone Clash of the Carolinas selection, College of Charleston signee and Region VIII-AA Player of the Year scored 23 goals and added nine assists.
Hadley Hudson
School: North Myrtle Bach
Class: Sophomore
Position: Midfielder
Notable: Scored a Grand Strand-best 41 goals and earned All-Region VII-AAA honors after also adding seven assists and helping the Chiefs to the second round of the playoffs.
Amber Rutledge
School: Carolina Forest
Class: Senior
Position: Forward/goalkeeper
Notable: USC-Salkehatchie signee led the Panthers to a second-place finish in Region VI-AAAA by registering 18 goals and five assists offensively and five saves in goal.
Katelyn Price
School: Socastee
Class: Junior
Position: Midfielder/forward
Notable: Versatile offensive and defensive threat scored 12 goals and added three assists en route to All-Region VI-AAAA honors and a Braves’ berth in the state playoffs.
Brooke Kennedy
School: North Myrtle Beach
Class: Junior
Position: Defender
Notable: Center back helped Chiefs to runner-up finish in Region VII-AAA and a trip to the second round of the playoffs while tallying eight assists and five goals.
Haley Altman
School: Socastee
Class: Sophomore
Position: Goalkeeper/midfielder/forward
Notable: Braves’ do-it-all standout recorded 17 saves from her spot in the net while also adjusting to time in offensive positions, where she scored nine goals.
Sara Allston Phillips
School: Waccamaw
Class: Sophomore
Position: Goalkeeper
Notable: Helped Warriors to a Region VIII-AA title, a top-five state ranking and a trip to the third round of the playoffs by recording 12 victories in net with 11 shutouts.
Ingryd Garcia
School: North Myrtle Beach
Class: Senior
Position: Forward
Notable: Two-time Toast of the Coast selection wrapped up her high school career by scoring 16 goals, adding 14 assists and earning all-region honors for playoff-bound Chiefs.
Abigail Gonzalez
School: Myrtle Beach
Class: Senior
Position: Forward
Notable: First-year starter burst onto the scene by finishing third in the area in scoring with 27 goals while adding 12 assists for Lower State runner-up Seahawks.
Coach of the Year
Blair Mueller
School: Myrtle Beach
Notable: Second-year coach spurred the high-scoring Seahawks to arguably their best season in school history, winning another Region VII-AAA championship and earning a berth in the Class AAA Lower State title game for just the second time ever.
This story was originally published June 19, 2016 at 4:53 PM with the headline "Gordon’s play registers loud for Myrtle Beach girls soccer team."