Sports

WHHS, NHHS girls are MVPs in WNC conference

Samantha Holmes (#8) shoots on goal against Brevard High School and leads West Henderson to a 6-2 win on March 30

By Bill Moss, Published: May 30, 2015

Soccer players from North Henderson and West Henderson high schools have won WNC Athletic Conference defensive and offensive player of the year honors respectively.

Both players added to a long list of honors in varsity high school and club soccer play.

Samantha Holmes, a West Henderson striker and the Falcons' all-time leading scorer with 118 goals, won Offensive Player of the Year honors for the WNC Athletic Conference for a second straight year. She was on the 2012 State Runner-up team in the Kepner State Cup with the HCSA Xplosion Team, was named all-WNCAC and  all-region all four years of her varsity career, was named a Kiwanis All-Star all four years. She was a two-time selection for West team, Powerade State Games, Bronze Medal (2013) and Gold Medal (2014), won a 2015 NCHSAA Performance of the Week award and was selected for the 2015 Selection for North Carolina East-West All-Star Game in July 2015 in Greensboro.

Samantha is graduating from West Henderson High School this year and has committed to play soccer for Western Carolina University where she will pursue her degree in Physical Therapy.

Elizabeth Baird (#11) steals the ball against Franklin High and helps North Henderson go on to a 1-0 victory on April 27.Defender Elizabeth Baird of North Henderson High School was the 2012 State Runner-up in the Kepner State Cup with the HCSA Xplosion Team, a
2013 Olympic Development Program Selection, co-captain of the Knights in 2013, 2014 and 2015 North Henderson High, 2014 Final Four in the State Cup with the Highlands Football Club ’97 Red Team and 2014 High School 3A All-Region Team. She is the 2015 Defensive Player of the Year in the conference. Baird will be a senior at North Henderson High School.
Although they played for county rivals during their high school years, Holmes and Baird played together on the same club teams for many years and started playingrecreation soccer Henderson County at around age 8. They soon began playing year-round travel soccer for the Hendersonville Soccer Association and ended up on the same Classic level team, HCSA Xplosion. The Xplosion became the most successful girls soccer team in the history of Henderson County and in 2012 both girls helped Xplosion advance to the State Finals of the Kepner Cup in Wilson, losing in overtime to the defending national champions. Fierce competitors on the field, they have remained close friends off the field for a decade.