Goalkeeper earns own honors as Centennial MVP

By TODD DEWEY

VIEW STAFF WRITER

Dusty Hayden watched with admiration as his older brother, Daniel, excelled for the Cimarron-Memorial soccer team all four years he was there. Now it's the little brother's turn.

Hayden, a junior goalkeeper at Centennial, notched six shutouts and only gave up 13 goals in 17 games this season to help lead the Bulldogs (14-2-3) to first place in their division and a playoff berth.

Hayden was recently rewarded for his outstanding performance when he was named Most Valuable Player of the Northwest Division of the Sunset Region.

"I didn't expect anything. I just wanted to go out there and play my best," he said. "I was excited. I was surprised. It means a lot because my older brother played for Cimarron and was MVP of the team all four years. I'm just filling in his shoes."

Centennial coach Rick Kazee, who was named the division's Coach of the Year, said Hayden's strong suit is his athletic ability, "without a doubt," he said. "He covers a lot of ground and he's very quick. I'm not the greatest goalkeeper coach, so he does a lot of it because of his athletic ability. He's one of the top five athletes at Centennial. He can play anything. Fortunately, he's chosen soccer. With that kind of athletic ability, he can take it as far as he wants to."

Kazee said he first knew Hayden was something special when he played as an eighth-grader on an under-19 club team.

"I've always known he was going to be a good one. He played for me on an under-19 club team as an eighth-grader, playing up with guys four or five years older than him -- I saw then he was a pretty athletic kid," Kazee said. "He showed a lot of athleticism there."

Hayden said he thrives on making spectacular saves.

"(I like) being aggressive and I like doing diving (saves), (stopping) hard shots," he said.

Hayden, 5-feet, 11-inches, 160 pounds, fell short in his quest to lead the team far into the playoffs. The Bulldogs won their first-round game, but lost to Bishop Gorman in the semifinals.

"My number one goal was to make it farther in zone than we did last year. We did that, but not as far as we wanted to," he said. "My individual goal was I wanted to let (no more than) 10 goals go in this season and I only let 10 go in (in the regular season)."

Kazee said Hayden was a huge key to the team's success.

"At the high school level, if you have a good goaltender, you're in every game. If you don't have a good kid in net, you're going to have problems," he said. "With Dusty out there, the team played as well as it could've played."

Hayden, who also started in net last year, said he was vastly improved this season.

"I think I've improved a lot. I learned the game more," he said. "I went to a goalie camp in California and worked with my best friend a lot (in the offseason). Every time I had a chance I went outside and played. Coach Kazee helped me a lot, too."

Kazee said Hayden has only just begun to tap his potential.

"The thing about Dusty is he's nowhere near where he can be. A lot of it depends on how far he wants to take it," he said. "For Dusty, it's how good does he want to be and how much does he want to put in his own time.

"He'll be a good high school keeper next year. He'll be bigger and stronger, but he's really got the potential to play beyond high school."

Kazee said Hayden, who played in net and in the field his freshman year at Cimarron, will be the undisputed leader of the team next year.

"He's a fun-loving kid, but he knows when to get serious. I don't think he has recognized the type of leader he can be," he said. "Next year he'll step up. We have a lot of kids coming back, but, in terms of senior leadership, he's the one who has to step up and do the job."

Hayden, who also enjoys racing motorcycles and snowboarding, is currently playing club soccer for the Premier 84 team. He said he wants to play college soccer, but first things first. Hayden, who has a 3.2 GAP, would like to win a championship at Centennial next year.

"My goal is to win zone. I'd like to win state, but you have to win zone first," he said. "That's my goal for my senior year."