November 6, 1998
COLLEGE PARK, MD. - A doorway was one goal. A table was the other. And if furniture got in the way, it just got knocked over.
That's the way winters used to be in the Sarver household.
Carl Sarver would make out brackets for one-on-one soccer games involving, his three sons and his daughter, Keri, possibly the scrappiest of them all.
The games would commence. The house would shake. Then, mom would walk in the door.
Pictures, plants, you name it were on the floor,'' said Jo Ann Sarver. Keri got pretty rough competing with her brothers. Usually, I'd walk in and scream, Why don't you all go outside?' ''
Fast-forward more than a decade and not a lot has changed. Keri Sarver is still as feisty during a soccer game.
When Sarver plays for the University of Maryland women's team, no plants get knocked over. But when she finishes a game, she still looks as if she's been battling Mother Nature. After Maryland's 3-2 overtime win over George Washington on Oct. 28, Sarver had grass in her hair and dirt all over her uniform.
I usually walk off the field dirtier than this,'' said Sarver, a senior forward from Jackson High in Stark County. I'm always on the ground battling for balls. That's the way I usually play.''
Sarver wins most of her battles. The George Washington game ended eight minutes into overtime, with Sarver breaking out of the pack just past midfield and tapping the ball past the diving George Washington goalkeeper for the winning score.
It was the 56th of her impressive Maryland career and the 16th this season for Sarver, who is ranked in the top 10 nationally in scoring.
But this goal was more special than most. It came in Sarver's final college home game and was her first in nearly three weeks.
On Oct. 11, Sarver was fouled in game against Connecticut. As she and an opposing player struggled to get untangled, the player fell on Sarver, dislocating her left shoulder. Sarver missed three games before returning to the lineup against Wake Forest last week.
After the George Washington game, the Maryland trainer looked as if she were unwrapping King Tut. Sarver had so many bandages and wrappings around her shoulder, she could have given the Invisible Man some fashion tips.
But you wouldn't have known by her play that Sarver was coming off a serious injury. She landed on her shoulder several times only to get right back up and pursue the ball.
She's just very driven on the field,'' said Maryland forward Lindsay Basalyga, who played at Turpin High in Cincinnati. She'll go all out for a ball. Even if it meant diving into the post, she'd do it.''
Sarver, 22, says she simply has a passion and a love'' for soccer. That enthusiasm has made her one of the top college players in the country, and landed her a spot on the national B team. It remains to be seen what postseason national honors might await her after the NCAA Tournament.
What I give is 100 percent every time I step on the field,'' said Sarver, who has an outside chance of landing a berth on Team USA for next year's World Cup in the United States. I'm not the best technical player. I'm not the fastest player. I'm not the smartest player.''
But Sarver, who hopes to lead the 24th-ranked Terps to their fourth straight NCAA Tournament, is one of the most prolific scorers around. She's the leading goal scorer and the leading overall scorer (players get two points for a goal and one for an assist) in Maryland history, with 145 points.
Throw in the seven assists that Sarver has this season, and she's averaging 2.6 points -- sixth in the NCAA.
She just has a knack for scoring goals,'' said Maryland coach Alan Kirkup. She just finds ways to get it done. I would say that before she got hurt, she was on track to become a first-team All-American.''
Scoring isn't new for Sarver. As a senior at Jackson in 1994, Sarver scored state-record 50 goals and was named a Parade magazine All-American.
But it goes further back than that. When Sarver was growing up in Akron (the family moved to Jackson Township shortly before Sarver entered high school), she played in boys leagues until she was 12.
The other guys used to make fun of me, but I didn't respond,'' Sarver said. I just showed them with my play. I once scored five goals in a game, and that kind of shut them up.''
Sarver has been playing soccer since she was 4. Not only did her two older brothers and one younger brother play, but her mom used to play in an Akron women's league. And both her mother and her father coached soccer.
She was always playing around with the ball on the sidelines when we were at games,'' said Jo Ann Sarver. I remember when she was 4, she told me, Look, mom, I can do a throw-in.' Then she did a perfect throw-in.''
Fortunately for Jo Ann Sarver, it was not executed indoors.
