Local Athletes Inspired By Carli Lloyd, U.S. Women's Soccer Team
By Diana Rocco
KENNETT SQUARE, Pa., (CBS) -- When they're not scrimmaging or scoring goals, these high school athletes from Avon Grove are cheering on the U.S. Women's soccer team and hometown hero Carli Lloyd.
"They're people we look up to so when see them play, it's what we want to strive for and who we want to be," said freshman Jordan Geis.
"I love watching them play. They've been my idols for so long and I just get so emotional when they score," said sophomore Nicole Buchanan.
The girls team with coach Brittany Barnes are fresh back from a trip to Canada to cheer on the women in their quarter-final game against Germany. Afterward they got a surprise visit from superstar Carli Lloyd.
"She jumped out of the van and we all just went crazy, we were screaming," said Rachel Martin.
"I think they were speechless but I was speechless. I was trying to keep my cool," said coach Brittany Barnes.
"She didn't have to stop and say hi to us but she did. And it might not have been a huge thing to her, but to us it was like once in a lifetime and I'll never forget that," said junior Maddy Geis.
So when Carli scored her hat trick in Sunday's final against Japan, these girls felt like they were cheering on so much more than just an athlete on TV, but a friend and role model.
"Everybody was going nuts, we were all like we know her and it was awesome."
For this group of freshmen through seniors, Canada and Carli brought soccer to life and made them realize dreams are possible.
"I think it motivated us. If we just put our minds to it, we can achieve what we want."
Most of the young women on the team were too young to remember when the U.S. Women won the World Cup in 1999, but they say not only has this trip inspired them, it showed them the value of hard work and united them for the start of a new season.