SPORTS

Andover's
Jason and Karen Koenig
are leaders both
on the field and off.

Jason is the
defense's
anchor.

MIKE ROSENBAUM

Special to The Jewish News

hey're brother
and sister. They
play on their high
school soccer
teams. And each is
a class president.
They are Jason and Karen
Koenig, whose dedication and
determination, both on the
field and off, are an inspira-
tion to their teammates and
classmates at Bloomfield
Hills Andover.
Boys soccer coach Tony
Sakorafis describes senior
class president Jason, a three-
year starter who is a co-
captain and sweeper, as
"tenacious. He never lets up.
He's pretty much the anchor
of the defense.
"He's a team leader back
there. He's our savior back
there on defense."
Lanny Nellis, who coached
Karen Koenig last season on
Andover's girls' freshman
team, describes the
sophomore class president
and midfielder as "a very
tiard worker.
"She tries extremely hard.
She is the one who, if she
wants to learn something or
do something, she'll ask" how
to do it "and you can see her
go out and try it.
"She'll try to do whatever it
is you want her to do. Just a
delightful girl to have on the
team. There's no back-talk, no
problems. Just a real nice
girl."
Jason is an all-area
honorable mention selection
last year who was voted An-
dover's most-improved player.
"He's improved skill-wise,"
says coach Sakorafis. "I think
his leadership is the main in-
gredient that he's improved
upon as he's gotten older. I'm

Karen is a hard-
working
midfielder.

sure that comes from his be-
ing class president.
"He's got the respect of the
other kids and he comes to
play every night. He always
gives his best . . . leads by ex-
ample."
With the High Holidays
falling during boys soccer
season and Passover usually
occuring during the girls'
season, Andover, like a
number of other metro
Detroit schools with Jewish
athletes, makes scheduling
accommodations. For exam-
ple, the school doesn't play its
games or hold practice on or
immediately after the High
Holidays.
Joining Jason on the boys
varsity are fellow seniors
Jeremy Samson, Brad Bot-
venick and Ronnie Gurion.
The largely senior squad
started well but then had
scoring problems and was
5-13 in wins and losses by ear-
ly October.
As a sweeper, Jason gets
very few offensive oppor-
tunities on the soccer field
and, therefore, very few
statistical rewards. He gets
his gratification from "stopp-
ing the play that the offensive
team is making. And sending
a long ball downfield to one of
our forwards so they can turn
it into a goal."
Jason says he and the other
Jewish players on the Barons

are all friends. He and Sam-
son are close friends and
"Brad (Botvenick) and I have
played together since we were
in kindergarten. It's good
having them on the same
team."
Forward Samson, Jason
says, "has got real good ball
control. He sits there in the
center and distributes the
ball real well. And he's got
one of the best shots on the
team."

Koenig (8) was voted most-improved.

Botvenick, also a forward,
"gets the ball on the wing and
then crosses it over and puts
some goals in," Jason says.
Botvenick and Samson are
regulars.

Jason adds that Gurion,
who sees action at halfback,
is "really a hard worker and
he has a fairly decent shot."
Karen was one of seven
Jewish players on last
season's freshman girls
squad. Coach Nellis, who will
take over as girls varsity
coach from Sakorafis this
season, describes the Jewish
group as "the corps of the
kids who tried so hard and
who wanted to do everything
extremely well."
Jodi Shapiro, who was a
freshman co-captain, began
last season at forward, then
moved to center-midfield.
"She was one that worked
hard as far as running," says

Nellis. "She had a lot of en-
durance. She could cover a lot
of ground, which is what you
need as a center-midfielder,
and could distribute the ball
to both sides of the field,
which is also what you're
looking for in that position.
She had a good, strong foot on
the ball and could get it up to
the front line, either to the
right or the left of the field."
Nellis describes Jill Dorsey,
a defender, as "a girl who
wanted to everything that
you told her to do," a very
hard worker, very strong. She
recovered quickly; if someone
got by her, she worked hard to
get back to this person."
Liana Firestone never
played soccer before last
season. She volunteered to
play goalie. "She was really
the person on the team who
got everybody fired up. Just
constantly calling out to all
the players in the field and
cheering them on and en-
couraging them. She was a
great person.
"She had to learn
everything about the game at
once. And she had no fear of
the ball. She would come out
and jump on the ball, pounce
on it. She took to playing
goalie very well, and it is not
a very pleasant job. A lot of
people will stay away from
there."
Nellis says that Lori
Rothenberg "did some subb-
ing for me. She was one that
had a very powerful kick. I
played her in the midfield
because she could move the
ball from deep in our area to
the other half of the field."
Defender Danielle Stein-
berg was a defender who
alternated into the lineup.
"She played very strong on
the defense," says Nellis.
Sarah Tigay began at left

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

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