THE PLAYERS
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THE KICK IS GOOD
// HOW FOOTBALL HELPED SOCCER PLAYER SAMANTHA DEWEY SCORE BIG. BY BOB JONASON
EMPRESS OF ICE CREAM RUNNER MADDIE BRITTON has a chilly superstition. The ritual started in seventh grade, when she first became interested in running. Now the Xavier women’s track and cross country athlete can’t make it through the day without eating ice cream. She eats a pint every night,
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SAMANTHA DEWEY KNOWS HOW to put the ball in the net. As a freshman last season, she led the Xavier women’s soccer team with seven goals. In high school, she proved she could put a football through the uprights, too. She was the kicker for Triton Central in Fairland, Indiana, and holds the school record for career extra points. The highlight of her prep football career came when Dewey kicked a 23-yard field goal with four seconds left for a 17–14 win over Lutheran High. Dewey made the kick even though the holder bobbled the snap. “After the ball went through, everyone went nuts,” she says. Indianapolis Star readers selected Dewey’s clutch kick as the Play of the Week. Sports Illustrated noted Dewey in its “Faces in the Crowd” segment, which features up-and-coming amateur athletes. The Triton Central football coach asked Dewey to try out during her junior year after the kicker went down with an injury. “Let’s see how you do,” he told her. She found the transition wasn’t hard. “I just had to get used to kicking off a tee.” She started with extra points. “After that, the coaches wanted to see if I could kick field goals,” she says. “They backed me up until I couldn’t make them anymore. I think my farthest in a practice was 52 yards.” She never missed an extra point during her junior year and missed only two her senior year. “And one of them was blocked,” she says.
usually between 8:30 and 10. “I think being a distance runner encourages an addictive personality,” says the junior from Bay Village, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland. “I’m addicted to running—if I skipped a day, I’d go crazy. The same thing has happened to me with ice cream. If I don’t have it, I get really sad.” Her teammates are aware of her ice cream habit—“I let everyone know”—and Britton encourages them to join her.
“When we travel, I’ll look to see if there are any ice cream shops near the hotel where we’re staying,” she says. “Then I’ll gather everyone who wants to go with me in the lobby. I’ll say, ‘I know how to get there.’ And we get ice cream together.” In Cincinnati, she likes to frequent Graeter’s, Aglamesis Brothers, and Buona Terra. When she’s at home near Cleveland, she heads to Mitchell Brothers. Edy’s is her favorite store brand. —B.J.
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P H OTO G R A P H S ( TO P) B Y R O B E R T S C H E E R / T H E I N D I A N A P O L I S S TA R ; (B OT TO M) BY M A L I N DA H A R T O N G
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