Luke held down CdM's fort

Luke's friend and Slammers club teammate Kaylee O'Connor missed time and was never quite 100% this year, with a stress fracture in her foot and injured knee. But Luke and the Sea Kings defense, including stopper Hannah Rome, sweeper Sydney Raguse, Alana Hunter and Amanda Stephenson, never skipped a beat. Only once all season did the Sea Kings give up more than one goal, coming when Irvine converted a penalty kick just before the end of the game.

"Lindsey's technical ability to get the ball is phenomenal," Middleton said. "She has a fast reaction time and she knows how to position herself. Besides being a phenomenal goalkeeper, it was her communication this year with our defense and, as a whole, our team … She showed great leadership … Everyone on the team was on the same page because she was directing the flow of traffic."

Luke had fun throughout. Early in the season she was an all-tournament selection at the Butch Lee Memorial tournament in San Diego. She played some of her best soccer in the postseason as well, making 15 saves in a CIF second-round shootout win over Los Alamitos.

In the Sea Kings' final game of the season, a 1-0 CIF quarterfinal loss to San Clemente on Feb. 24, Luke had eight saves. She also had fun. She was playing against two of her Slammers club teammates and best friends, the Tritons' Tessa Andujar (who played at CdM her first two years) and Frannie Coxe.

Even in the middle of a very intense game, Luke didn't let nerves get the best of her. When the ball would be played back to her, she'd grin and perform ball tricks, tempting her friends before snatching the ball up at the last minute.

"It was funny," Luke said. "Tessa knew I was just going to pick it up. It was fun teasing her."

Luke wasn't a tease for the Sea Kings. She was the real deal. And nobody needs to ask her if she made the right choice to come back.

"I'm really happy that I did play," she said. "It was so much fun. This team was definitely the closest team out of the three years that I've played, and it was a really great season."

Here's a look at the other 12 Newport-Mesa players who make this year's Dream Team:

Jackie Freiberger

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