When watching the Hannibal varsity girls soccer team, Taylor Sorrell doesn’t necessarily stand out at first glance.

At an even 5-feet tall, the freshman is both the shortest and youngest player on the team. But don’t let her diminutive stature fool you. This Lady Warrior can play.

Dating back to last Thursday’s 4-3 win over Solvay, the team has won three of its last four, and Sorrell has been a big part of that run. She netted two goals in the Solvay match and then continued her outstanding play the next day with two assists against Red Creek in a 2-1 win.

She also scored the team’s lone goal in a 1-0 win at Lyons on Tuesday.

In Thursday’s 2-1 home loss to Lyons in the rematch, Sorrell scored Hannibal’s goal.

She has nine goals on the season, putting her atop the Warriors’ scoring chart. Her success in the team’s recent winning ways and throughout the fall has earned the freshman sensation recognition as The Palladium Times Athlete of the Week.

When asked what factors have contributed to Hannibal’s recent success, Sorrell said that everyone has worked hard to improve the team’s overall play. “We know where each other are, and we’ve just practiced and practiced and gotten a lot better,” she said.

Her coach, Michael Agostinho, said his fiery forward has been vital to the team’s improvement. “She has contributed, obviously, offensively through goals and assists,” he said. “I give her credit because she is the youngest player on the team and has shown leadership, even as a freshman, which is rare.”

Sorrell credited her teammates for her own impressive scoring totals. “Everyone knows where I am,” she said. “My teammates are a big help.”

Her coach, however, was quick to give Sorrell some credit as well. He said he has been impressed with her skills on the ball, citing her excellent first touch and her shooting accuracy.
“She obviously has a very good shot. More placement than power,” Agostinho said.

He also praised the way she works to produce scoring opportunities. “Especially in high school girls soccer, her effort, her work rate as a forward is extremely high. She creates her own luck because she works hard,” he said.

The Warriors will not allowed into the class B sectionals because they are not part of a league, but that doesn’t mean that they are taking the rest of the season off. Sorrell says that the goal for the team is simply, “to win as many as we can.”