Ashley Bares (Ozaukee/Marquette) now has a pretty prestigious award to go along with all those goals she's scored this season.
The Stjarnan forward was named the league's player halfway through the season in the Úrvalsdeild, the highest level of women's soccer in Iceland.
Both the Football Association of Iceland (KSI), which runs the league, and the website Fótbolti.net picked Bares as the top performer through nine matches. Fótbolti.net also named her the league's top foreign player so far this season.
Bares leads the league with 11 goals for Stjarnan (8-1-0), which is on top of the standings in the 10-team Úrvalsdeild.
"I was happy to hear about these selections," Bares wrote in an email. "It is always a nice surprise to receive an honor like this and I couldn't of got it without the help from my Stjarnan teammates. But with that being said, we also have a lot of games left so lots of work to be done yet, can't be satisfied at this point."
She closed out the first half of the season in style, recording a hat trick in an 7-minute span of the second half during a 4-0 win over host Breiðablik last Wednesday that moved Stjarnan into first place.
"It is always nice to score goals, especially as a forward," said Bares, who holds the Wisconsin prep record for career goals. "I just want to keep doing what I can to help the team, if that means scoring goals then I will keep doing that and I would love it."
Bares wrote on her blog, Futbol in Iceland, that teammate Gunnhildur Yrsa Jónsdóttir told her that the two of them needed to go get their pictures taken at an event last Friday. As they were driving the offices of Pepsi, which sponsors the league, Bares was told that they were Stjarnan's representatives on the Midseason XI team.
Other than some language issues – she doesn't speak Icelandic, which she noted in an interview sometimes leaves her "oblivious" to what people are saying – Bares' transition to professional soccer couldn't be going much better.
"I think I adjusted fairly well," she wrote. "I like to jump in and learn and adjust as I go, and (that) is what I did here. My coaches and teammates have been great, so that definitely makes it easier when you join a new team."
