Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – From her spot in goal Naomi Meurice can see each of the other 21 players on the soccer field.

Her viewpoint makes Meurice a natural leader on the soccer field.

There is much, much more that makes the City High senior a leader away from the soccer field.

Meurice is a 4.0 student, a standout athlete and a member of the City High student council but what stands out above everything else is her leadership.  

“The leadership, it’s not only on the field its off the field and in school she is a leader, she is just a natural leader the way she carries herself,” City High soccer coach Phillip Hansen said. “The way that she does the little things people see and that positive energy is contagious and it builds.”

A four-year starter, Meurice learned a lot in her first few seasons of varsity soccer.

Among the most important early lessons for Meurice were in how to be a leader.

“I had a lot of people before me that were really good leaders,” Meurice said. “I can list tons of names of girls in this soccer programs that showed me how to lead on the field but also how to be a leader in the school and how to be confident.”

Over the course of her prep career Meurice has blossomed into the type of leader a coach trusts on the field and any teacher would want walking the hallways.

Hansen, who is a first-year head coach and math teacher at City High has seen both sides of the leadership from Meurice.

“I know her on a different level because I had her in the classroom too so I not only see her lead 10 other players on the field but it translates to the classroom and it’s a direction translation,” Hansen said. “In the classroom, just as you would expect, she is prepared every day she is down to the fine details and the fact that she is mature enough to understand that those fine details both on the field and off the field make her just one outstanding student at City High.”

On the soccer field Meurice has established herself as one of the top goalkeepers in the state.

A two-year captain, Meurice has twice been named Mississippi Valley Conference divisional keeper of the year and has allowed four goals in five matches this season while helping City High to a 3-2 record.

“This is my second year as a captain and I think being on the varsity as a freshman and getting that many varsity minutes, really, really helped,” Meurice said. “We have a lot of really good players, a lot of really hard workers and once we get a few things figured out we will be a really good team.”

Meurice also shines off the soccer field.

She boasts a perfect grade point average while also serving as the assistant vice president of the student body.

“You couldn’t ask for anything better as a representative for our school,” Hansen said. “She is assistant vice president of the student body and she has taken that to heart. She has started new programs.

Meurice has signed a letter of intent to play soccer at Pomona College in Claremont California where she plans to study environmental analysis.

Her interest in the environment has grown during her time at City High which sparked Meurice and three classmates to institute recycling at City High.

What started out with a few cardboard boxes in classrooms has turned into an extensive school-wide program.

“With 1,600 students a lot of plastic goes out the door and into the trash and we didn’t like that,” Meurice said. “I’ve always been interested in the environment and sustainability and I think City High has really been able to spark that interest.”

Everything that Meurice does, whether it is cross country, soccer, academics, student government or recycling she does with her trademark excellence.

For Meurice that excellence is driven by passion.

“I really love everything that I am in, there is nothing that I am in that I’d doing just to put on my resume or something like that,” Meurice said. “I really love everything that I’m in and that’s what keeps me going.”

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