Greenwood senior soccer goalkeeper developed a passion for the sport as a freshman

Growing up in New Mexico, soccer was not on Trinity Spicer’s radar. Now a senior at Greenwood, she actually competed in track, as her parents were both coaches, along with basketball. Having two older brothers, Spicer played her fair share of backyard football, too.

Spicer’s family moved to Arkansas prior to her eighth-grade year, but she still didn’t take an interest in soccer. That all changed when Spicer was a freshman, as she went out for soccer and ended up being a current three-year varsity starter as the Lady Bulldogs’ goalkeeper.

“I was in (Greenwood) Coach (Andrew) Post’s civics class, and he checked the concussion protocol thing that we have to go through on the freshman basketball team because his daughter was on the same team as me,” Spicer said. “And he looked at the best reaction times on the team and I was the highest reaction time, and he thought he needed a backup goalkeeper. So he reached out to me, and asked me if I wanted to do it. And so I said yes, and now we’re here.”

Now, Spicer admits she can’t get enough of soccer.

“It’s one of my favorite sports now and I never thought I would ever step on a soccer field,” she said. “It’s just like a sport where I can kind of show all of my personality traits.

“I’m also the senior captain, so being able to show all my skills and how all my skills in basketball kind of developed me into a good soccer player. … I’m able to show my leadership skills and just being able to see how my teammates build me up and different things. That’s what makes soccer so special is it’s such a team-oriented sport.”

Spicer is turning in a solid senior campaign. At the start of May, she had recorded six shutouts and made 74 saves. One shutout that was special to her was making 11 saves in a scoreless tie at Harrison, avenging lopsided defeats to that team in previous seasons.

Spicer’s fast reaction times that was initially observed by Post as a freshman have definitely paid off for Spicer in her role, as that and quick reflexes are two of the most important attributes a goalkeeper can have.

“You have a split second to react and then it’s either you stop it or you don’t, and that’s how it is in goalkeeping,” Spicer said. “And so you really have to be willing to sacrifice physically and then mentally as well. You need to just make sure you put the bad things that happen, your mistakes, obviously you’re still gonna make mistakes. We’re all human. So put your mistakes on the back burner and just keep looking forward.”

Spicer also wanted to be more vocal this season, especially since she’s just one of three seniors on the squad.

“I’ve been able to coach my teammates more while I’m on the field, because as a goalie, you can see everything,” she said. “I’m able to see everything, so it would be a loss if I didn’t communicate with my teammates really well, so I feel like the communication aspect of it has really stepped up this year.”

Another player Spicer is coaching up is her younger sister Anna, a sophomore who is Trinity’s backup on varsity and the starting goalkeeper on the junior varsity squad.

“I convinced her to play with me and she was kind of hesitant at first, but she loves it now,” Trinity said. “And so I’m excited to see what the future holds for her.”

At Greenwood, Spicer continued to play basketball – where she was a member of the Lady Bulldogs’ state-title winning squad as a sophomore – and run track, doing the 100-meter dash and the 400-meter relay. She will attend Dallas Baptist University in the fall, majoring in sports management and minoring in journalism and communications with hopes of being a sports broadcaster.

It means her playing days will come to an end once soccer season ends.

“I try not to think about the end too much right now because I have to really focus on what’s still going on,” Spicer said. “But yeah, it’s gonna be a hard goodbye because soccer’s been one of my favorite things to do for these last four years. I wish I would have started it earlier, but I loved it for the time that I had with it. And, my teammates have been great these last four years and I couldn’t have asked for a better program to join in.”