Pleasure and Pain : Edison’s Joy Biefeld Often Finds Herself a Marked Player for a Remarkable Soccer Team

Ignoring the blood smears on her jersey, Joy Biefeld tenderly massages her scraped knees, knees that show the wear and tear of playing 104 high school soccer games. They’re knees of a marked player.

“They hurt,” she admits, trying hard to block out the pain. “I’ve got to go home and soak in the tub for a couple of hours, but I’ll be all right. I’m used to this.”

It’s a ritual for the Edison High senior, a side effect of being the No. 1 player on the Southern Section’s No. 1 girls’ soccer team. On a recent afternoon, Biefeld, a 5-foot 4-inch forward, had an Upland defender dogging her, yet she managed to score two goals and make two assists in a 4-2 playoff victory. Another would-be goal hit the post.

“She’s been drawing that kind of coverage all season,” said Colleen Silva, Edison coach. “What’s good about that is it opens up our other people, and Joy is an extremely unselfish player. One way or another, she seems to get loose.”

In fact, Biefeld invites double coverage.

“If I have somebody following me around, I move toward their sweeper,” she said. “That leaves me with two defenders, and that means one of my teammates is open for a pass.”

Biefeld may be an excellent passer but it’s her scoring ability that sets her apart. So far this year, she has 45 goals, best in the Southern Section, and 25 assists. She had 23 goals as a junior, despite missing eight games with an injury, 30 her sophomore year and 32 as a freshman on varsity.

Bumps, bruises and bloody noses are a lot easier for Biefeld to handle than defeat, something she and her teammates have yet to experience this season. The Chargers are 24-0-2 after beating Palos Verdes, 5-2, Wednesday in the second round of the Southern Section 4-A playoffs. Biefeld led the way with three goals and one assist in the quarterfinal match. In her four years at Edison, the Chargers are 84-10-10.

And Biefeld, despite her shy demeanor, is an aggressive competitor, one who doesn’t take to losing too well. It’s something she picked up from her coach.

“I love to win and I hate to lose,” said Silva, who has compiled a 102-15-10 record in five years at Edison. “I’ve been criticized sometimes for pushing my players too hard but my job is to do the best I can and do everything and anything I can to make us win, short of cheating.

“If the girls just want to play recreational soccer, they should play in the park.”

Said Biefeld: “Losing is the worst feeling. It’s the pits.”

A three-time All-CIF selection and three-time Sunset League MVP, Biefeld draws lot of attention these days, both on and off the field. Because she accounts for 80% of Edison’s offense, opponents mark her closely and, quite often, not all of them do it in with polite demeanor.

“The teams that we’re playing now are a lot more aggressive than the ones we played in league--and they’re rougher,” Biefeld said.

Most of her shyness disappears at game time, and there has been more than one occasion in which she felt like returning some of the abuse.

“I wanted to learn every dirty trick in the book,” she said after being particularly roughed up in a game against Fountain Valley, Edison’s only tie in Sunset League play.

In addition to drawing a lot of elbows and double-team coverage, Biefeld also sees a lot of college recruiters.

“She’s an awesome player,” said Raul Guerra, Upland High assistant coach. “There aren’t many like her. She’s got everything: speed, quickness, skills. She could play on a boys’ team.”

A native of Huntington Beach, Biefield has played soccer since she was 10. She was attracted to the sport after watching her oldest brother play AYSO ball and quickly moved up the ladder, from club soccer matches to junior national competition.

Indeed, soccer runs in the Biefeld family. Eric, 20, the eldest boy, is a sweeper for the UCLA team that just won the NCAA championship. Kathy, 19, is a starting midfielder for the University of Connecticut. Kelly, a 16-year-old sophomore, is a starting halfback for Edison. Their father, Terry, is a soccer referee.

It’s no wonder there’s not much of a lawn in the family’s back yard.

“If anything grows back there, it has to be hearty,” Terry Biefeld said. “We play quite a bit of soccer back there. Once Eric started playing, everybody followed right along. Soccer seems to be the game they liked the most.”

Like any other soccer parent, he’s proud of his daughter’s accomplishments but prouder still of the way she’s gone about polishing her skills.

“She’s quick; she can find her opening and take advantage of it,” he said. “But she really works hard at it. I have to give her credit for her desire and dedication. A lot of players out there have her talent. It’s her dedication that makes the difference.”

It takes quite a bit of dedication just to survive four years of playing for Silva, much less handle the physical abuse she endures on the soccer field. In addition to precision drills, Silva estimates her players run 10 miles during workouts.

“Our kids don’t walk, ever,” Silva said. “During a game they’ll run between five and seven miles. We keep on running while opponents are bent over.

“I’ll admit I’m a mean coach. I wouldn’t want to play for a coach like me.”

Biefeld welcomes her coach’s approach, which has helped her hone her natural abilities. The only time they seem to disagree is when Silva starts pulling her starters during a one-sided match.

“If it’s 3-0, I’ll take her out,” Silva said. “She could probably have a lot more records if I left her in the entire game. I don’t like to run up the score. Besides, what can I tell Joy? Don’t shoot? I think the hardest thing for her to do is sit on the bench.”

Said Biefeld: “I don’t like to be pulled out. I always want to be in the game. But when she pulls me, I just go out--and wait for the next game to come along.”