Wednesday, February 04, 2009

Burright future ahead



Nordhoff’s Bianca Burright, pictured with her mother, Eleanor, on the eve of her signing a national letter of intent to play Division I soccer at Cal Poly. Photo by Scott Wintermute.

Nordhoff athlete follows her dream of playing college soccer at California Polytechnic State University

By Mike Miller

Today will be one of the most exciting days in Bianca Burright’s life. The Nordhoff High School senior will be signing a national letter of intent to play Division I soccer at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. This official signing will fulfill her dream of playing college soccer.
Sports have always been a big part of Burright’s life, but for the last few years she has been focusing on becoming one of the area’s most prolific scoring forwards. She said, “When I was younger, I participated in softball, basketball, tennis, diving, dance, and equestrian sports. Then when I turned 15, I was named to the U.S. Women’s National Team and that’s when I decided to devote myself to soccer.”
Burright has hit the back of the net plenty of times in her career as a Ranger. She has scored 79 career goals and when you add 49 assists on top of that, you have one of the best soccer players to wear a Nordhoff uniform.
Her ability to score in bunches is a rare quality. Head coach John Hoj said, “She is a rarity in soccer in that anywhere in the offensive third of the field if given the ball she has the ability, the tenacity, and power to score goals in bunches. She is a natural goal scorer, what every soccer team dreams to have, and she has been finishing her opportunities all year long.”
Scoring goals is only the start of a long list of things that Burright loves about the sport, she added, “The thing that I like most about soccer is the team atmosphere, hard work, common goals and the sisterhood. I also love having the ball and taking people on. I like setting people up to score as well as scoring goals myself. I am also thankful for all the friends, coaches, and teammates that I have met throughout the years.”
When she talks about sisterhood, Burright means it. Her sister, Gianna, is a junior for the Rangers. Older sister said, “I love playing with my sister. She has always been the tougher one out of the two of us. She has my back. We do fight a lot on the field but we love each other. It is kind of weird, we always know where the other is on the field, like a sister bond that we have.” 
Burright is also looking beyond her years at Cal Poly and has set her sights on lofty goals both in the classroom and on the soccer field. She said, “After college, my goals include playing in the women’s professional league. My long-term career goal is to have a career in nursing. I am interested in pediatric nursing. My dream is to some day make the National Team and represent my country in the Olympics.”
The Rangers will play their final regular season game next week when they host La Reina on Feb. 11 at 3 p.m.
Editor’s note: Burright has also displayed her writing skills this season by contributing NHS girls’ soccer reports to the OVN sports page.