Marianne Maxon's historic run leads West Henderson girls soccer to new heights
Even at home, Marianne Maxon makes everything a competition. It drives her sister crazy.
If that’s the case with family, then you can only imagine how the West Henderson sophomore’s opponents feel on the soccer field. Maxon has scored 56 goals this season — more than any other girl in the history of Western North Carolina soccer, and more than all but 23 girls in NCHSAA history.
“I think I’m just an extremely competitive person,” Maxon said. “Soccer has a lot of little competitions in the game as a whole. I just want to win all of them that I can.”
In Thursday’s 5-0 win against Concord in the second round of the NCHSAA 3A playoffs, she won the battle four times to put the ball in the back of the net.
There was her first, breezing past two defenders and receiving a through ball from Rhylie Druskis before nudging it past the Concord goalkeeper. The second, dribbling past the diving goalkeeper and tapping it into an open net. Another, rocketing a ball well out of the keepers’ reach in the top right corner. The last, tapped into the net off a deflected shot from her forward partner, Emma Chavez.
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To head coach Brian Brewer, part of what has made Maxon’s season so special is her connection with Chavez, who is second on the team in both goals and assists.
“They feed off of one another, they know where each other are on the field at all times and they make good decisions for one another,” he said. “They’re not just up top scoring goals, they’re pressuring balls and doing everything they’re supposed to do.”
They’ve played together since Maxon was in sixth grade and Chavez was in seventh, and the pair has led West Henderson to an unprecedented postseason run. Before this year, the Falcons hadn’t made the playoffs since 2017.
“Traditionally, West as a school hasn’t been known for success in soccer,” Maxon said. “So it’s just really cool to see the team working for us and then also my individual work coming through as well.”
As the Falcons move further into the playoffs — they’re slated for a third round matchup with North Davidson on Monday — Mixon’s game day routine hasn’t changed, and neither have the nerves.
Her rituals are the same: eat some fruit, hopefully a little bit of protein. Put her uniform on from left to right — left sock, right sock, left shoe, right shoe.
“I just like to do everything the same so I can be prepared,” she said. “I’m still nervous but I think I can control it more if I’m just doing the same thing.”
By the time she’s on the field, Maxon is in control.
This article originally appeared on Hendersonville Times-News: Maxon, West Henderson girls soccer raise the bar in NCHSAA playoffs
