Florida’s DII college season is concentrated in the spring, but a scheduling conflict forced an early look at Eckerd and Florida Gulf Coast on Saturday. The Sirens triumphed 61-5, and Canterbury Player of the Week Kat Scheerer accounted for nearly half of Eckerd’s points. When combined with the 78 points she recorded her freshman year, Scheerer’s Saturday performance thrust her into the Century Club, a designation for players who have scored 100 points or more during their Eckerd career. Photo: Ricardo Mejia
“She did it faster than anyone at Eckerd has ever done it,” said Eckerd forward coach Mike Geibel, also a men’s team alum. “On the men’s side, there are maybe 10-12 guys since the team started 15 years ago who have done it, but usually for them, it happens in their senior year. Kat did it two games into her second season. She keeps playing like this and she’ll probably hold the records for career points and season points.”
The women’s team hasn’t kept diligent records in the past, but it’s something the current coaching staff values, especially as it encourages more higher-level play and exposure. Players like Ally Gallagher and Colleen Owen have opened their teammates’ eyes to the playing opportunities regionally and nationally, and Geibel believes Scheerer will do the same.
The soccer convert garnered attention during last season’s DII playoffs in Atlanta, but work prevented her attendance to Atavus’ Florida academy. The outside center/fullback is on the radar, however, and Geibel is confident she’ll get another look.
“She has blazing speed. If she gets a step or two on somebody, there aren’t many in Florida who can catch her,” Geibel said. “Coming from soccer, she’s good in support and knows her running lines. She has good spacial awareness and knows where to be at the right time, and then she uses her speed to finish.
“I felt like every time we got the ball out to her, there was a high percentage that she was going to score,” Geibel spoke to Saturday specifically. “She had four tries [and three conversions] but she could have had two more – she had a clear field in front of her but she passed to her two freshmen wings for their first tries.”
Scheerer isn’t just speed. Geibel was pleased to see the finisher more confident in contact this year as she grows into that “last line of defense” mentality when playing fullback. Her one-on-one skills with ball in hand have also evolved, and were on display during a pre-season friendly against University of South Florida. Scheerer kicked a penalty and scored one of Eckerd’s tries, and it was a good one.
“USF has an HPP player Hannah [Larsen], who normally plays flanker and is a great tackler,” Geibel said of the Florida High Performance Program member. “Hannah was playing fullback that day, so every time Kat had a line-break, she was going up against one of the best tacklers in Florida. She tried a few times to beat her around the edge, and she finally got through.”
The fall is still pretty quiet for Eckerd, but the Sirens will be participating in NSCRO’s South regional championship as a provisional member. The Florida school is considering the switch to the small school competition and will gauge itself against powers like Lee University. In the meantime, keep an eye out for Scheerer and the rest of the Eckerd squad that’s looking to return to DII college playoffs in the spring.
Kat Scheerer is the second Canterbury Player of the Week for October; Notre Dame College’s Lea Walsh was the first. At the end of the month, readers will vote for the Canterbury Player of October, following the same process that crowned Sui A’au as September Player of the Month.