Maddy Morrison, quiet and reserved, jogged to the sideline, teammates surrounding her, hair pulled back, personality changed when stepping onto the pitch. She mentally prepared herself, trotted on to the soccer field and awaited the beginning whistle.

This season, Maddy Morrison has made quite a name for herself on the field. She is a second year Varsity player as just a sophomore. Maddy has scored 11 goals this season and has been a key player in taking the team to playoffs.

Last night the Rocklin Girls Soccer Team faced Rodriguez in the first round of playoffs and Maddy was the player to watch.

Maddy scored the first goal and got the team an early lead, and the team rallied up to finish the game strong. However Rodriguez retaliated by scoring 2 goals leaving the Thunder in a 1 goal deficit.

“We stayed composed at the beginning of the game like we needed to but  then we sort of lost it and got down, but we came out on top,” says Maddy

With few minutes left in regulation Christina Lazar scored a late goal and sent the game into overtime. After one 10 minute round of overtime the game remained tied causing the teams to battle it out for another intense 10 minutes.

The Thunder tried everything possible to get a last minute goal, not wanting the game to go into PKs.In the 97th minute Maddy scored the winning goal, and the team advanced tothe second round of playoffs.

“The goal in the 97th minute that was crazy it was awesome,I turned around and everyone in the stands was standing up and everyone hugged me it was amazing,” said Maddy

Maddy is the daughter of the varsity coach Paul Morrison. The two have a close relationship, tied together with a common interest; soccer.

“My dad was like any other dad when I scored. He jumped up and cheered like everyone else. When we got home he said he couldn’t stay calm when I scored and we rewatched my goal over and over,” adds Maddy.

The Thunder will advance to the second round of play-offs, facing Tracy, who recently defeated the neighboring Roseville Tigers. As of current issuing, the teams will play in Tracy tomorrow at 4.