No slowing this Sloan, either, as senior racks up 29 goals

Early in the Geneva boys soccer team's season, coach Ryan Estabrook stated that senior Shawn Sloan set a goal for himself to score 30 or more goals this year.

The thing was, Sloan never verbally stated that himself.

Sure, Sloan was thinking that in the back of his head, but he never said it out loud. Estabrook said it for him.

"It was something I threw out to the press to put the burden on him to see if he could go after that," Estabrook said. "I wanted to put the bull's eye on Shawn at the beginning of the year because I know he responds best when there is that pressure on him when he has a big stage he needs to perform on. I figured I should create some artificial pressure on him."

It worked - almost. Sloan fell just one short of 30, but no one in the Tri-Cities Area came close to his total. It was one of the many reasons why he was named the Tri-Cities All-Area boys soccer captain for the 2008 season. He is the fourth consecutive Geneva player to earn this honor.

Coincidentally, Shawn's older brother Steve was given that same title in 2005. Both boys also made the all-state team, was conference MVP and scored 29 goals in their senior year.

"I'm not surprised he lived up to it, but at the same point, it's a special season when you can do something like that," Estabrook said of Shawn Sloan, who helped Geneva go 20-3-1 this year.

Geneva's special season ended in the Class 3A Wheaton North sectional final, when St. Charles North upset the Vikings, 3-1. Shawn did not score against the North Stars.

"It would have been cool to at least tie or beat my brother's record," Sloan said, "but I would trade that (29) goal season for a 10-goal season for my team to get to (the Class 3A) state (tournament) any day."

Perhaps Sloan's best showing was in the sectional semifinal game against Schaumburg, when he recorded his first hat trick of the season. He scored all of Geneva's goals, including 2 in the final 10 minutes, to help his team beat the Saxons, 3-2.

After the game, Estabrook said Sloan was on his game, and that when the stakes are at their highest and competition is at its best, he plays his best soccer.

Sloan scored at least one goal in 10 of the final 11 games this year.

"Watching (Steve) go on his 29-goal tear his senior year was pretty inspirational," Sloan said. "I definitely learned a lot from him through out the years...(but) it would have been cool to beat my brother's record."

Sloan gave credit to his club team, the Chicago Magic, for preparing him for pressure-filled games like the one against the Saxons. Estabrook compared him to a clutch college basketball player during March Madness. Teammate Kendal Spurgin said the performance was definitely one of his best of the season.

"He's the guy on the team where if we ever need anything, he's always there," said Spurgin, the Eastern Illinois-bound player who was Geneva's go-to guy when Sloan was being mobbed by defenders.

The "go-to guy" title was something Steve was known for at Geneva. But the talent for soccer didn't start with Steve, the oldest of three boys (the youngest brother Brandon is an eighth-grader). Their dad, Jeff, played soccer at North Carolina's High Point, where Shawn verbally committed to recently. Their uncle also holds a record for scoring in an indoor soccer league.

"We'll have Sloans for 10 consecutive years at our high school playing soccer," said Estabrook, who has been the varsity coach for 5 years. "They've been a great family and a great soccer family."

In addition to being known as a great soccer player, Shawn is also known for being smart. He is ranked fifth in his class academically (three of the students above him got a perfect ACT score) and is currently taking three AP classes (biology, calculus and Spanish). At High Point, he plans on studying science (chemistry or biology) and wants to go into pre-med.

Sloan knows he will miss playing high school soccer.

"Club (soccer) is fun, but there's nothing like playing for your school and community and playing with your friends you see every day," he said. "It was such a great experience and I'm going to miss it."

Estabrook doesn't even want to think about Sloan's departure from Geneva.

"More than anything, (I will miss him) in the hallways on a school day," Estabrook said. "He's always a good kid to have around."

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