Jess Bredin, Ashland Girls Soccer

Ashland’s Jess Bredin was introduced to the game of soccer in kindergarten by her father, who he himself loved playing the game. And through those early years on the field he would coach her teams. When she made the varsity team in her freshman year, he could be no prouder.
Bredin found herself like most freshman going out for a sport that had a bunch of older athletes that devoted themselves to the sport very nerve racking and frightening in a way, but she was not going to let it be her downfall.
“The older kids were very intimidating, but the week before tryouts the Coach told me that she me as a dominate leader on the field,” Bredin said. “What she said motivated me through the tryouts and I didn’t back down and went after those older kids on the field.”
After earning her position on the Clocker squad Bredin put forth a valiant season where she earned a Tri Valley League All Star honorable mention. The acknowledgement only made her want to work harder. She continued to play for the Stars, a club team out of Lancaster Massachusetts looking to improve her skills to not only work on her game for herself but for the better of Ashland soccer.
Despite the hard work and dedication she put into her game to make her father proud, she was hit with some devastating news following her freshman season with the Clockers.
“After my first year my dad passed away. It was tough at first, but I knew that he would want me to get back on the field and keep going,” the now Ashland senior said. “My father would come to every one of my games and before the games he would send me an e-mail wishing mew luck. I don’t get those e-mails any more, but I’ve kept all the others and look at them before each game to give me inspiration to go out and give 110%.”
The following season, the first without her dad sitting in the stands or sending emails, Bredin and her teammates went 7-7-4 to earn themselves a spot in the Division 3 South Tournament. Ashland went into overtime with Old Rochester before they finally fell 2-1. It would be the only time Bredin would get to play in the post-season during her high school career.
In between high school soccer seasons she continued to play for the Stars, but also took it upon herself to join the track team during her junior year to keep herself in shape. During the winter track season she ran the 55, the 300 and high jumped for the Clockers.
Her luck or lack thereof continued in her junior season where she got hurt and was forced to sit on the sideline and cheer her teammates on. Holding onto a 1-0 lead over Medway the Mustangs had a girl racing toward the Ashland net with the ball; Bredin, the team’s center back was hot on her trail. Then all of a sudden the Ashland goalie, who had come out to cut down the angle; the Medway girl and Bredin all collided.
“In the collision I received a hematoma to my leg, but our goalie stopped the ball,” Bredin said. “I was out about a month and a half but it was all worth it because we had finally beaten Medway for the first time in a very long time.”
Bredin wanted to become more of a leader, someone you could talk to on the team. She also wanted to make the tournament, but despite all the work that the Clockers put in, it just wasn’t meant to be. Although the team didn’t make the tournament, Bredin was selected to the TVL All Star team.
“As a captain she has been a great leader for this program. Everyone form the freshman to the seniors all look up to her. Overcoming the adversity of losing her father a few years back shows the type of athlete she is; she is what Ashland soccer represents,” First year Ashland Coach Jensen Shipp said. “As our center back she had two goals and two assists, but what she actually does on the field has no stat line. She was an incredibly important piece to our team on and off the field.”
Although her high school career didn’t exactly go the way she had hoped, Bredin is looking toward college soccer to change all that. She has committed to Ithaca College in New York (a division 3 school that plays in the Liberty League) to continue her soccer career.