PORT ANGELES — Plenty of kids playing sports have to overcome something before they find success, be it sprains or other injuries or being stuck at the end of the bench early in their athletic careers.
Port Angeles’ Zoe Ernst has overcome more than a lot of kids could imagine. And now she is moving on to play soccer for Lower Columbia College next year.
Ernst signed a letter of commitment to play for the Red Devils last week, culminating a comeback from being hit by a car her freshman year. In that accident, she was left with a broken collarbone and head and lung injuries. She came back to try and play her freshman season, but wasn’t feeling well and discovered that she still had a hole in her lung.
“This was a really big day for her and her family,” said her coach, Daniel Horton. “She worked so hard and fought through so many injuries.”
For her part, Ernst credited Horton for helping to push her to work her way back into the Port Angeles lineup.
Lower Columbia is a popular destination for a lot of Port Angeles athletes, particularly in softball and baseball. There’s also been some women’s soccer players in the past for the Red Devils from Port Angeles, including former Roughriders Bella Money and Bailee Larson (Larson also played basketball).
“I’m sure she will do some great things there,” Horton said.
Ernst came back to play for the Riders this season in the defensive backfield. Horton said one of her strengths is her obvious mental toughness.
“She’s willing to step out of her comfort zone which is not something a lot of kids are willing to do,” he said. “There was never a practice or a game where we had to worry about her.”
The young Riders squad this year had just two seniors, Ernst and Ava-Anne Sheahan, both of whom anchored the back line on the defense. Horton is proud that both of those seniors have signed to move on to college soccer with Sheahan agreeing to play for Corban University in Salem, Ore.
While Sheahan came up to the front of the offense to score some goals for the Riders, that wasn’t Ernst’s role, who was steadfast on defense.
“She sat back and did the dirty work for us,” Horton said. “She’s an old-school defender. She’s a ‘do the right thing all the time’ type of player.”
Ernst continued to battle injuries even in her senior year. Sheahan also was hurt for a while midseason.
“I had a sprained ankle the first half of the season and I had to push through that. Probably more than I should have,” Ernst said.
“They became really close and spent a lot of time together rehabbing, helping each other out and getting to know each other,” Horton said.
When she finally made it back on the pitch for Port Angeles High School last fall after being out for so long, Ernst said it wasn’t easy on a lot of levels.
“I could tell I had taken a lot of time off,” she said.
But she said that during her long recovery, she never gave up on her hope to return to the pitch.
”I was out for a couple of years, but I did love playing soccer. I found my way back,” Ernst said.
