Published April 27, 2008
The Charlotte Observer
By Jay Edwards
Special Correspondent
When Lee Horton came to Charlotte Latin, the girls' soccer program was like a day at the beach. Or maybe a weekend.
"Most of the girls just wanted to play so they could go on the annual beach trip, that the team took," Charlotte Latin soccer coach Lee Horton said."I wanted to make the girls take it seriously, so I had to take the beach trip away for a little while."
He came to the team in 1984, and now Charlotte Latin girls' soccer team and Coach Horton are among the best and most-respected in the state. Horton, who coaches the boys' and girls' programs, has nine state championships and 594 wins on his resume.
As the girls' coach, Horton has amassed 297 wins -- the same number as the boys team -- and three state titles.
This year, his girls squad is 10-3-1 overall (3-0 in conference play) and ranked No. 2 in the state (private). Latin has beaten 3A teams like Piedmont, Polk County and Porter Ridge with their only losses coming to undefeated, un-scored-on T.C. Roberson, Walter Williams and 4A power Weddington. The only tie was last weekend at New Hanover on their annual trip to Wrightsville beach.
"We try to go out and play the best teams we can early in the year," Horton said. "Our whole goal is to peak at the end of the season. Every team in the state wants to do that."
Latin, who hadn't had their full roster healthy all year until this week, is on a roll having won four in a row, with conference victories over Charlotte Christian and Providence Day last week.
The Hawks did this without one of their leading scorers, Juliet Waller and goalkeeper, Kristin Horton, (also Coach Horton's daughter) for long stretches.
"It's amazing what we've done this year with what we've been missing," Horton said. "We've moved people all over the field. But on the positive side, it has forced us to create depth."
Latin also is an experienced team led by senior co-captains Merritt Johnson and Lisa Atlas, who have played varsity all four years. Johnson, who has eight goals and seven assists, has been hot lately scoring in four of her last five games while Atlas leads the team with nine assists.
"Lisa is really what makes our offense go," Horton said. "We have a lot of good forwards and scorers, but without a playmaker, without Lisa, they don't get the ball in good spots."
Two of her main targets are sophomores McKay Kirkland and McCallie Jones, who lead the team in scoring. Kirkland has 13 goals, which leads the Hawks. Jones, also an Olympic Development team player in Charlotte, has nine goals and seven assists. Waller also is a major scoring threat, but has been limited because of injuries, and when she came back she also played goalie in place of the injured Kristin Horton.
The younger Horton, who plays goalkeeper like her father did at Ravenscroft High School and then in college at UNC Chapel Hill, is one of the trio of sophomores who make up an exciting future for Latin.
"I can hardly believe, I have all three of these players for the next two years," Horton said. "It's very special also to have my daughter playing the same position as I did. It means a lot to me."
Kristin Horton has allowed only five goals in nine games after recovering from a sprained medial collateral ligament. Horton, also an ODP player, has sparked the defense, which has only given up 13 goals all year.
But Coach Horton says now is the time to start putting it together as a team. The Hawks, which lost 1-0 in the state championship game last year to Greensboro Day, have only one thing on their mind.
"Our main goal is to win it all," Coach Horton said. "We don't want to just get back there. We want a state championship." After two-plus decades of coaching, Horton says he still gets up for each and every game.
As the playoffs approach, he feels it even more.
"I love what I do," Horton said.
He has been coaching for 30 years, including five years at Greenfield School and two years as a graduate assistant at Campbell University.
"I still get goose bumps before most games. I really feel like I'm as passionate about the game as I was when I started," he said.
Most people at Charlotte Latin who know Horton, also feel like he is not only one of the hardest working coaches and teachers at the school, but one of the best.
"The biggest compliment I can give Coach Horton, is that I want my kids to play for him," said Charlotte Latin headmaster Arch McIntosh, whose kids go to Latin.
"Coach Horton stands for everything that is right about athletics on and off the field, and that is how it should be."
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