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November 18, 2004
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November 18, 2004 |
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Silvert-Noftle named top DIII soccer player
Though most people will congratulate YSHS senior Duncan Silvert-Noftle for being named the Ohio Division III soccer Player of the Year, Duncan would congratulate his teammates for what he and they accomplished together. Last weekend, the Ohio Scholastic Soccer Coaches Association named Silvert-Noftle the top boys soccer player in Division III in Ohio. One of the reasons he won the award is that he never forgets about his teammates on his way to the goal. He knows that none of his accomplishments would be possible without his teammates. “I’ve worked hard off-season with club soccer, but it’s helped to play with a good team the last four years,” Silvert-Noftle said of the YSHS soccer squad. “Without the team I couldn’t have risen to this skill level or gotten the goals and assists.” Silvert-Noftle grew up keeping things in perspective, knowing there is always someone better than him. He started playing soccer as a 6-year-old runt in the backyard with his father, Tom Noftle, and his older brother, Garrett. They made a goal out of PVC piping and played nearly every day. When his younger sister, Erin, was old enough, she joined them too. Soccer was a way to connect with his family, Duncan said, and all thoughts of rising to the elite were crowded out by a more immediate determination to be just like his big brother. But his dad saw that Duncan was quickly acquiring new tricks and had the speed and agility to outdo Garrett, who currently plays for Ohio Wesleyan. “Dunc had certain traits, he could always see the field better from an early age, and he could use both feet from early age,” Tom Noftle said. “Seeing the field, that’s not something you can teach, that’s something that’s just there.” Noftle, who took up soccer when his sons did, was one of Duncan’s first coaches when in the fourth grade he and his friends joined the ’85 Bulldogs youth traveling team, which included many of Duncan’s YSHS teammates. That group of friends continued to play together through middle school and high school, and Silvert-Noftle credits Scott Keyes, Noah Woodburn, Nic Huneck and Mike Hosket with challenging each other to become one of the region’s leading soccer teams. Silvert-Noftle said he gets the credits for the goals and assists because as a forward he plays up front, but his teammates always help him score. But one of Silvert-Noftle’s original teammates and longtime friends, Keyes, said that since his sophomore year Silvert-Noftle has been performing jaw-dropping feats that stupefy and amaze those who know the game. “Truth be told, he’s the best player I’ve ever seen,” Keyes said. “He’s a guy that makes something out of nothing.” Take a poorly executed pass Keyes sent to Duncan during a game against Greeneview this year. It was such a bad ball that Keyes started walking away, he said, when Duncan came out of nowhere and scored. YSHS coach Jim Hardman said that Silvert-Noftle is one of only 14 high school players in state history who have scored over 100 goals. Silvert-Noftle has 120. He also has 55 career assists, which illustrates his strength as a team player who passes the ball to the person in the best position to score, Hardman said. “He does understand his place in the larger scheme of things and also understands he’s got something special with the way he handles the ball,” Hardman said. “There’s no player in Division III that can do as many different things as he can do.” Team Dayton, the club team Duncan has played for since he was 12, has exposed him to a wider range of players from Dayton, Columbus and Cincinnati. Last year Team Dayton won the state title, and this year has merged with another top-ranking Ohio team to play for the national title. Team Dayton club director Ryan Baker said Silvert-Noftle ranks in the top 10 percent in the Midwest, largely because of his speed and creative offensive ability. “He is dangerous because he can create his own offense without having to always rely on his teammates,” Baker said. “He’s a stereotypical Division I player, he’s extremely smart, and he’s going to be a gold mine for somebody collegiately wherever he goes.” The onslaught of college recruitment calls Silvert-Noftle received in July showed that others feel the same way. But he took his time getting back to them, and tried not to let the pressure of picking a college interfere with his love for the game and with his commitment to academics, the reason one goes to college in the first place, he said. “It’s hard to think about college as a serious thing,” he said. “I just enjoy playing and competing at high levels, and even though it’s not as competitive in high school, playing under the lights with all my friends is a lot more enjoyable than club soccer. I wish I could play one more year with all of them.” Silvert-Noftle doesn’t act like being named the top Division III player in the state is such a big deal, saying one gets nominated because of politics and name recognition. But only two players in Yellow Springs history have achieved All-American status, Tyson Bondurant in 1979 and Gregg Ayers in 1984, and according to Hardman, neither of them was named the state’s player of the year. Baker said that Silvert-Noftle will likely end up on the regional team when the All-Midwest rankings are released in December. A month later, those players get whittled down for All-American ranking, which Baker thinks Silvert-Noftle has a chance of achieving. “I think it’s really awesome that he’s been honored this way, and I’m hugely proud of him for this accomplishment,” Tom Noftle said. “But I’m really even more proud of the person he is, kind, good with young kids, loyal to his friends, has a good sense of humor…He accepts it and just seems kind of ready to go to the next level.” For next year, Silvert-Noftle is considering the University of Cincinnati, Wake Forest, Boston University and Ohio Wesleyan. He plans to play college soccer for four years and keep his options open for professional soccer after that. He knows that if he works hard and wants it badly enough, he can rise to any level he chooses.
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