Student Athlete of the Week Paige Russell

Three games into her senior season, Paige Russell has emerged as one of Niwot High School girls soccer's top scoring threats.

The fourth-year varsity midfielder has already scored two goals, equaling her total from last season. Yes, it's a small sample size, but Russell's early offensive success shouldn't be overlooked.

"It was kind of a big deal for me because I haven't really scored a lot of goals in my high school career," Russell said of her impressive start.

Her first score came in Niwot's season opener against Centaurus High School on Thursday, March 7. Russell shared that after falling behind the visiting Warriors early, she took it upon herself to provide a spark.

"I felt like I needed to set the tone and be like, 'Hey, guys, we can win this game. We have to come back,'" Russell said. "I was kind of fighting the whole first half to score that goal to equalize (the game) and bring us back in. I was glad I was able to do that."

Aided by Russell's clutch goal, Niwot came back to beat Centaurus, 2-1

Five days later, she netted another goal in the Cougars' 5-2 home win over Wheat Ridge High School. Niwot also received two goals from sophomore Heather Humphrey, one from senior Margaux Boyer and another courtesy of freshman Ashley Grier.

"We went down in the first 30 seconds of the game, and I saw everyone's heads go down," Russell said. "I was like, 'We need to keep our fire.' I was doing the same thing where I was just trying to put one in the back of the net so that we could equalize."

Niwot, which finished 6-8-1 last year, is off to a 2-0-1 start this spring. Russell noted that she and her fellow senior teammates have meshed well with a group of "hungry" underclassmen.

"It's been a good start to the season, especially compared to last year," Russell said. "The team dynamic is a lot different. I think we're going to win more games this season than we did last year."

Russell approaches her leadership role with relentless optimism.

"I've been trying to be very positive and set the tone on the field and off," she said. "When we go down, I'm being very supportive and trying to bring my teammates up, especially the freshmen who are new to this. I'm just telling them, 'It's okay, we've all been there.' I'm trying to show them they can do it."

As a senior, Russell hopes to end her high school career with one final appearance in the state tournament. But postseason or not, she'll be relishing her final spring on the Niwot pitch.

"It's definitely bittersweet," Russell said. "Before my first game, I was getting really emotional thinking about how it's all coming to an end."

Upon graduating, Russell plans on studying kinesiology at Oregon State University.