Carly King’s numbers aren’t gaudy.

But her value to the Poland Regional High School field hockey team was measured in far greater metrics than goals and assists.

“Carly is the total package,” Poland coach Amy Hediger said. “She is a dynamic player with a superior offensive and defensive skill set. She demonstrates excellent speed, agility and endurance. She is without a doubt our team’s go-to player, and the player that other teams looked to stop. When we needed something to happen on the field, I not only wanted her involved, but in control.”

The role of leader was not a role with which King was comfortable at first. Many of her peers were one grade level above her. When the Knights had their best season on record a year ago, she was a skilled junior among many skilled senior players.

Over the summer, she realized how different her senior season would be.

“It was definitely weird,” King said. “I grew up with those girls, and now they were gone. But they set a good example for me, so as we went, we were adjusting, finding what worked, what didn’t work.

“I adjusted as I went, I guess,” King added. “It was tough, because I always looked up to those girls. It changed me as a person, and I had to be the one to step up.”

And step up King did.

Never mind her 10 goals were more than half the Knights’ total of 19 this season, and that she assisted on five of the other nine. King also drew the opponents’ top defenders in every match.

“I try to keep that out of my head and, when we’re setting up and the whistle blows, I try to just go for the goal,” King said. “You just have to play around them. In the game scenario, I don’t focus on the pressure. I focus more on where the ball is going.”

That focus haled King shape the future of a young Poland team. But the team, ove the past four years, has helped mold King as a person, as well.

“Carly has obviously impacted the game of field hockey at PRHS, but more importantly the game of field hockey has impacted who Carly is on and off the field: Hediger said. “With 12 teammates always ahead of her, it was easy to follow the lead of captains such as Amanda Dube, Emily Gibson and Mary Everett. This summer, Carly faced the realization that those captains were gone and she was now looked upon as the leader of our team, a varsity squad that only had two upperclassmen. Watching her try out different leadership styles, and then relenting to just being herself, was the moment that all coaches hope to witness in young women.”

King isn’t sure that field hockey is in her future. Even as an all-academic selection across the board, and an all-state and all-region selection, she is worried about balancing her time between sports and academics at the University of New England as she studies medical biology. But the skills she has learned from field hockey away from the field will serve her well in any endeavor.

All-Region Teams

They drove, ran, kicked, passed, shot and scored. And they did it better than anyone else.

Meet the Fall 2015 Sun Journal All Region Teams, led by the seven athletes of the year in their respective sports.

2015 Sun Journal All-Region Field Hockey Team