Ava Moore shining for Benton girls' soccer; named Player of the Week
BENTON, La. (KTAL/KMSS) — Senior goalkeeper Ava Moore has been making quite the impact on Benton girls' soccer. What makes Moore such a powerhouse in the net is her fearless attitude.
'Under the intense pressure you have to trust your instincts,' explained Moore. 'If you're going to come out, you have to trust that it's the right decision and you go for it.'
'She is technically sound with her feet which is not something we've always had,' added Benton girls' soccer head coach Jesse Dyer. 'We can feel confident playing the ball to her. We can feel confident in the decisions that she's going to make with it.'
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Having someone as reliable as Moore at goalie strengths the trust between the entire Lady Tigers squad.
'That really helps the team as a whole,' added Coach Dyer. 'If you're worried about your goalkeeper, that lack of confidence can lead to instability everywhere on the field.'
The third-year starter has become a leader for the Lady Tigers both on and off the field. One memory sticks out among the rest during Moore's time at Benton.
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'The Byrd game my junior year,' recalled Moore. 'We tied Byrd for the first time ever and I think that as a team we just collectively and emotionally had a great game.'
'Part of it was Ava,' explained Coach Dyer. 'It's the reason she got first district all-team goalkeeper.'
Moore has been learning underneath Coach Dyer for about 5 years now.
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Not only has her relationship with him grown stronger, but the senior has had a front row seat watching Benton Girl's Soccer evolving underneath Coach Dyer.
'To see what Dyer has done with the program and to be on such a long undefeated streak,' started Moore. 'It's really nice to see. I think we have evolved as a team and as a program.'
'We've had a great season,' Coach Dyer said. 'We've done things that Benton soccer has never done. That is just a testament to (Ava's) growth, but also the entire team's growth as they've come through the program.'
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Moore will now be eligible for the Landers Dodge Player of the Year award, which comes with a $2,500 scholarship. The Player of the Year Banquet will be held in May 2025.
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The topic held up the House case for weeks as the judge basically forced schools to give athletes cut in anticipation of approval a chance to play — they have to earn the spot, no guarantees — without counting against roster limits. Rimmel packed up and moved back to his parents' house in Purcellville, Virginia. For the past six months, he's held on to a glimmer of hope that maybe he could return. 'The past six months have been very tough," he said. "I've felt so alone through this, even though I wasn't. I just felt like the whole world was out there – I would see teammates of mine and other people I knew just doing all of these things and still being part of a team. I felt like I was sidelined and on pause, while they're continuing to do all these things.' News that the settlement had been approved sent Rimmel looking for details. 'I didn't see much about roster limits," he said. 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The majority is expected to be spent on high-revenue generating sports, with most projections estimating 75% of funds will go toward football. So what happens to the non-revenue-generating sports which, outside of football and basketball, is pretty much all of them? It's a query that's top of mind for Ootsburg as she enters her senior year at Belmont, where she competes on track and field team. 'My initial thought was, is this good or bad? What does this mean for me? How does this affect me? But more importantly, in the bigger picture, how does it affect athletes as a whole?' Ootsburg said. 'You look at the numbers where it says most of the revenue, up to 75% to 85%, will go toward football players. You understand it's coming from the TV deals, but then it's like, how does that affect you on the back end?' Ootsburg asked. 'Let's say 800k goes toward other athletes. Will they be able to afford other things like care, facilities, resources or even just snacks?' Moore has similar concerns. She says most female athletes aren't worried about how much – if any – money they'll receive. They fear how changes could impact the student-athlete experience. 'A lot of us would much rather know that our resources and our experience as a student-athlete is going to stay the same, or possibly get better, rather than be given 3,000 dollars, but now I have to cover my meals, I have to pay for my insurance, I have to buy ankle braces because we don't have any, and the athletic training room isn't stocked,' Moore said over the weekend as news of Friday night's settlement approval spread. One of the biggest problems, Ootsburg and Moore said, is that athletes aren't familiar with the changes. At AthleteCon in Charlotte, North Carolina, they said, perhaps the biggest change in college sports history was a push notification generally shrugged off by those directly impacted. 'Athletes do not know what's happening,' Ootsburg said. 'Talking to my teammates, it's so new, and they see the headlines and they're like, 'Ok, cool, but is someone going to explain this?' because they can read it, but then there's so many underlying factors that go into this. This is a complex problem that you have to understand the nuances behind, and not every athlete truly does.' Some coaches, too, are still trying to understand what's coming. Mike White, coach of the national champion Texas softball team, called it 'the great unknown right now.' 'My athletic director, Chris Del Conte, said it's like sailing out on a flat world and coming off the edge; we just don't know what's going to be out there yet, especially the way the landscape is changing,' he said at the Women's College World Series in Oklahoma City. 'Who knows what it's going to be?' What about the walk-ons? 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The majority is expected to be spent on high-revenue generating sports, with most projections estimating 75% of funds will go toward football. So what happens to the non-revenue-generating sports which, outside of football and basketball, is pretty much all of them? It's a query that's top of mind for Ootsburg as she enters her senior year at Belmont, where she competes on track and field team. 'My initial thought was, is this good or bad? What does this mean for me? How does this affect me? But more importantly, in the bigger picture, how does it affect athletes as a whole?' Ootsburg said. 'You look at the numbers where it says most of the revenue, up to 75% to 85%, will go toward football players. You understand it's coming from the TV deals, but then it's like, how does that affect you on the back end?' Ootsburg asked. 'Let's say 800k goes toward other athletes. Will they be able to afford other things like care, facilities, resources or even just snacks?' 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'Talking to my teammates, it's so new, and they see the headlines and they're like, 'Ok, cool, but is someone going to explain this?' because they can read it, but then there's so many underlying factors that go into this. This is a complex problem that you have to understand the nuances behind, and not every athlete truly does.' Some coaches, too, are still trying to understand what's coming. Mike White, coach of the national champion Texas softball team, called it 'the great unknown right now.' 'My athletic director, Chris Del Conte, said it's like sailing out on a flat world and coming off the edge; we just don't know what's going to be out there yet, especially the way the landscape is changing,' he said at the Women's College World Series in Oklahoma City. 'Who knows what it's going to be?' What about the walk-ons? 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