Out-of-Door freshman soccer star experienced beyond her years

The Out-of-Door Academy’s Natalie Gorji was fed the ball on a dead sprint, faked left and bent her shot around a helpless keeper.

After watching the display, it would be tough to argue with Gorji, who says she is best during one-on-one moments.

Not many opponents can match her experience, and her comfort on a soccer field is evident.

The 14-year-old Thunder freshman has been a leading scorer on the varsity girls team for three years now.

That is not a misprint.  

Gorji was called up to the varsity team during her seventh grade year at ODA’s middle school.

“It was pretty nerve-wracking,” Gorji said. “Especially because I didn’t really know any of the high schoolers. I was so young. They were really nice, and once the first game started I realized how they were as a team. It ended up being a really cool experience.”

She scored her first goal on November 24, 2014, in a 4-0 win over Sarasota Christian. Three games later, also against Sarasota Christian, Gorji recorded her first hat trick. She scored four goals in her next game, against Imagine North Port.

Thunder coach Bill Unzicker said he was hesitant to put too much on his new offensive star.

“Even though we are a smaller school, we are still playing against 16-, 17-year-olds,” Unzicker said. “The physicality of the game is an important part. We had to make sure that we protected her, and not let her get into a situation where she was deterred mentally because of the physical play.

“I really did not expect her to be where she was, but she was having a great time. She’s fearless. Youth sometimes does that.”

The biggest moment of her seventh grade season, and Gorji’s personal favorite moment in her blossoming soccer career, was the Class 1A District 7 championship game against St. Stephen’s. The Falcons were the five-time defending district champions, and ODA had lost and tied in two previous games against the Falcons that season.

This time, Gorji was not going to leave without a win. She netted another hat trick, with all three goals coming in the second half, and ODA won 4-0.

It was the team’s first district title in program history.

Gorji said her teammates were never condescending and never treated her differently due to her middle school status.

“On the field, she is (a leader),” Unzicker said. “She respects her older classmates, so she does not take the vocal lead, but she will take the action lead. She challenges for every ball. She just gets it done, and everyone follows through.”

Gorji is still is getting used to the spotlight. She covers her face with her hands if she does not have an immediate answer to a question. Gorji and her family lived in the Los Angeles area until she was 10, and thus she is adept at most every “board” sport known to man, especially wakeboarding, according to her father, Bijan Gorji.

“I kind of try,” she said. “That’s kind of like a goal for me.”

She is known for scoring in bunches, but that is not the criteria on which Gorji normally grades her own performances. She cares more about how many shots she is putting on net each game, and how many turnovers she commits. Gorji believes the next step in her development as a player is to improve her “first touch,” or the initial trapping of the ball when it is passed to her. Poor control of the ball leads to increased turnovers.

Soccer was the only traditional sport Gorji played growing up because she immediately fell in love with it. She is also, however, a double blackbelt in karate. She believes karate helped her on the soccer field, in terms of her reflexes.

The Thunder, which is 7-0 this season, repeated as district champs last season, with Gorji leading the way, and this year have even loftier goals. Gorji has 11 goals and two hat tricks already.

She said her coaches want her to get 100 goals before her senior year.

That’s a lot, but with the talent she possesses, nothing is impossible.