By Marty Gordon
NRVsports@ourvalley.org
Jordan Stevens is one of many senior student-athletes who saw their spring season shut down before it even started thanks to the coronavirus. The Blacksburg High soccer player is trying to take it in stride but admits to being disappointed.
“But I will survive,” the senior goalie said on a recent Facebook posting.
In his first three seasons, he recorded 36 career shutouts, only four away from breaking the school record. The state mark is 49 shutouts.
“When I found out we were getting shut down, I was devastated,” Stevens said. “I truly was crushed that I may not get to play my senior soccer season and hear my name called on senior night. There are things that you dream about leading up to high school and for us seniors, we may not get to live out those dreams.”
But Stevens’ soccer career appears to be far from over. He has committed to play soccer at Holmes Community College located in Ridgeland, Miss., where he will major in athletic training.
As a freshman, Stevens started for the BHS varsity team and recorded 16 shutouts as the Bruins finished as the state runners-up. He earned an honorable mention all-district selection and won the Jim Gwazdauskas Most Improved Player Award.
As a sophomore, he contributed 12 shutouts in a run to the Bruins’ thirteenth soccer state championship.
His junior season, Stevens battled back from a knee injury. He recorded 13 shutouts and earned another honorable mention all-district selection and his first honorable mention all-region selection in the Bruins’ state semi-finals run.
As a goalkeeper with a small frame, he knew a legitimate collegiate Division I offer would be hard to come by.
“When I came across the junior college opportunity, it was in an area where I could still have a fun experience,” Stevens said. JuCo also has a huge financial advantage to it. Two years of school without debt is very hard to beat, on top of having the opportunity to play the sport I’ve loved since I was four.”
Holmes Community College was Stevens’ first official visit.
“I saw a board with all the recruits’ names. My name was listed with 4 check marks next to it; they wanted me,” he said. “When I met with the coach, he offered me a full scholarship including out-of-state costs. It was a great feeling to have somebody wanting me to come into a program and play a role in their goals for success.”
Stevens also likes the idea that the campus located near family and friends in an area where he had spent several summers. He chose his major largely because of the injury he suffered last year.
“I gained a lot of appreciation for athletic trainers when I had my knee injury,” he said. “My high school trainer, Dan Clark, helped me a lot in my recovery process and was able to get me back on the field six weeks after my surgery. I want to be able to make an impact on lives just like my trainer has on mine.”
Stevens feels this year’s Blacksburg team would have had another shot at a deep postseason run.
“We had more experience this year than we had in our 2018 state championship run. As a goalkeeper, I was excited about the strength of our back line. I think we had the ability to shut down most offenses. Our attack looked to be strong, following a long trend in Blacksburg soccer,” Stevens said.
Stevens and his teammates did manage to play one game on the school’s new turf field in a scrimmage against Radford. He called the experience “amazing.”
“The new turf that was put in at Bill Brown Stadium was a major upgrade from the field we had. Our grass field was always very bumpy and had a lot of patches that were missing grass.” Stevens said. “With the new turf, our team had the ability to move the ball so smoothly, and that would be a huge change from the past.”
One of Stevens’ favorite memories of playing at Blacksburg is one that other people may want to forget about.
“My freshman year we made a run all the way to the state championship game,” he recalled. “As a freshman starting goalkeeper, the pressures that came with that game were unmatched. In the last two minutes of the game, I got scored on by a free kick just outside the box. The moment that ball hit the net my heart dropped,” he said.
The Bruins would lose in the state finals for the fourth year in a row.
He used the picture of himself lying on the ground after the goal as his screensaver for the next year. It fueled him, and the loss made the next year that much sweeter. As a sophomore, the team went 22-0 with a state championship win.
“At that moment, I felt that I had earned it,” Stevens said.
This past week, he took a moment and a deep breath when finishing his discussion about his lost season. He thanked Blacksburg Coach Shelly Blumenthal, who had first allowed him to be a soccer ball-boy at the age of six. His dream was to play, and watching eight years from the sidelines of amazing wins, celebrations, defeat and heartache only fueled his love of soccer and a drive to be part of the program.
“I am thankful for each game I was part of, from being the ball boy to playing. Thanks to Coach B for letting me be his shadow all these years,” Stevens said.