RIVER HEBERT – David Quinn reached his goal, and then some.
The River Hebert High School Raiders soccer player started the 2012 season with 81 goals and wanted to reach 100 points before he finished his high school soccer career.
“Starting the season I wasn’t sure if I would get there or not, so I was kind of relieved when I made it,” said Quinn.
Quinn scored his 100th goal eight games into the 15-game campaign.
“I scored it against North Colchester in North Colchester,’ said Quinn. “They didn’t stop the game but everybody acknowledged it, and the other team congratulated me at some point in the game, so that was good.”
The 2012 season ended for the Raiders in Cape Breton over the weekend and Quinn stepped off the field with 118 high school soccer goals to his credit.
“We were eliminated Saturday in Cape Breton at the (Division 4) provincial qualifier,” said Quinn. “We’ve never won the provincial championship but we made it to the provincial qualifier three years in a row now.”
Asked what it takes to score 118 goals, Quinn said, “you have to have good teammates.”
Asked where his favourite spot to bury the ball in the net is, Quinn said, “Wherever the goalie isn’t.”
The 17-year-old has been playing soccer since he was a five-year-old Timbit.
He plays summer soccer in the Highland Soccer League with Fundy United, and played this year with the Under-18 team.
Quinn said soccer can get kind of nasty outside of Cumberland County.
“Sportsmanship is good in Cumberland County. We’ve never had any major problem with nastiness in sports in Cumberland County,” he said. “But sometimes in qualifiers and regionals it gets kind of hairy. It gets out of hand sometimes.”
The Grade 12 student recently received the Lieutenant Governor Medal for Academics, and was named the Athlete of the Year last year at RHDHS. He will soon decide where he will attend university next year.
“I’m deciding between two different universities right now,” he said.
There’s a career fair today at RHDHS, and Quinn hopes it will help him decide between Dalhousie and St. FX, where he will work towards his bachelors of science degree.
“If I go to St. FX I’d like to play soccer but if I go to Dalhousie the soccer is probably out of my league,” he said. “St. FX (soccer) is within reach, but Dalhousie is a huge school and very few people make the team.”
Quinn is a multi-sport athlete and will miss competing at RHDHS.
He played softball and badminton, ran the short distances in track and field and was part of the curling team that competed at the provincials.
“Our school’s really into table tennis right now,” he said. “We went to competitions at other schools over the past two years but, in school, we have our own competitions and have a table tennis table set up at the back of our classroom. It passes the lunch hours when the gym’s out of service.”
Construction at the school has been frustrating.
“Last year we didn’t have a gym until mid-winter, so we were kind of sport-less for a while. That was kind of rough,” he said. “It has definitely been frustrating because the size of our school has been, basically, cut in half, so it’s kind of cramped, but it’s better than having no school at all.”
dmathieson@amherstdaily.com
