High school soccer: Cloverleaf's Dana Thur has all-out mentality

Dana Thur has always been one to push herself to the limit. From her formative years in soccer until her star status now with the Cloverleaf girls team, the 17-year-old senior has never backed down from a challenge. The forward met that obstacle head on from sixth through eighth grade as the only girl on a boys traveling team for the Colts. "Actually, when I first started on the boys team, we had this thing where we said I was cursed," Thur said. "I could not score a single goal. By eighth grade year, I was the top scorer." She started out as a left wing with the boys to develop her skills, and by the time eighth grade rolled around, she was the striker lighting the lamp time and again. That development came courtesy of coach Brian Bresnahan, who saw untapped talent. "I actually thank him for creating what we like to call the monster that I am," Thur said with a laugh. "Pretty much all of the boys on our soccer team, I've played with. I thank them for teaching me how to become fast and think quick on my feet. "It's just natural for guys to be better than girls at sports, so it kept me going. It made me so much better. My speed increased drastically. My shots got stronger. It definitely prepared me for the high school team." While she may be a handful for opposing players, she is every bit about the team and has led with her play throughout her four years. Thur burst on the scene as a freshman with eight goals and watched her game explode as a sophomore and junior, when she registered a combined 32 goals and 10 assists. She entered the week with eight goals and an assist, giving her 48 career tallies and 11 helpers. "She is that type of player where what you see on the field is what we get during practice time," Cloverleaf coach Guillermo Porras said. "She practices how she plays — 150% at all times. She is the true epitome of that player where work ethic is everything. It's, 'Watch what I do in practice because my hard work pays off on the field.'" Thur is driven to be the best every time she laces them up. It doesn't matter who the Colts are playing. If it's game day, it's goal day. "She is a very determined and hard-working player," Cloverleaf outside midfielder Riley Evans said. "She is giving it her all at her practices and has a really good handle on the ball. She's able to take any opportunity to get a shot off. It's nice knowing someone will take shots. "I'm always serving up crosses, so it's nice to know there's someone there to finish along with my other teammates. She has a very positive attitude and is willing to go at it, I guess. It sets the role where you can't be afraid to take a shot." That's the way it has always been with the Colts, who look to the two-time honorable mention All-Gazette pick to fill the back of the net as much as possible. "There's confidence there because they know that at the end of each game they can rely on her," Porras said. "From a psychological perspective, if we go down 1-0, they know they can count on her to dig them out of the hole." Thur played her entire junior season with a torn meniscus. She won't play in college because of knee issues, which is why she's going to leave every ounce of effort on the field before she exits high school. "Once the whistle blows, I get stuck in this little world where there is one goal and one goal only," Thur said. "That's to score as many goals as I possibly can. That's my drive. My knee problems have gone back since freshman year, but once that whistle blows, those get pushed aside and then it's all like one wave straight to the goal." Contact Brad Bournival at bournival929@gmail.com.