When people talk about soccer, defenders are not usually the people that get the most recognition. That is far from the case when it comes to Jackson Memorial’s Alexis Casella.
The senior defender has been one of the top defenders in the Shore Conference this season. Her impact has been felt since she made the varsity team as a sophomore.
“Her sophomore year is when she really stepped up,” said Jackson Memorial head coach Drew Gibson, who is in his 16th year in charge of the program. “That’s when she started playing varsity. Her confidence grew a little bit then and she’s continued to improve. She’s one of the players since her freshman year I think has gotten better every single year, and a lot of that is a credit to her hard work off the field as well.”
Gibson noted her knack for making plays in key situations and how she leads by example as two of Casella’s most notable traits.
“She’s a very good outside back and aggressive when balls are in the air,” Gibson said. “She plays 100 percent all the time and in terms of leadership, I think she leads by the way that she plays. She plays hard all the time; she never takes a day off and she’s always working hard and in the right spot at the right time. A lot of girls on the team can look up to her and see how hard she’s working all the time.”
Jackson Memorial is 16-5 overall and 12-1 in A South. The senior class has certainly left an impact on the program.
“They’ve had a very good run. We’ve started seven or eight seniors almost every game,” Gibson said. “We’ve had a winning season every year, competing for division and conference championships. We weren’t able to get them, but we were right there with a chance each year.”
Casella will further her soccer career next fall when she attends St. John’s. She is one of many players Gibson has sent to play collegiate soccer, and he is excited to see what her future has in store.
“We’ve had a lot of girls go on to play college soccer and we always talk about on senior day how lucky we are as coaches to have these girls go through our program,” Gibson said. “They’re all very good students, soccer players and people. I’m very happy to see her go to St. John’s and I’m sure she will be successful there.”
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