Meeker makes his mark

Soccer has always been fun for Cameron Meeker.

Even when he first picked up the game, even when he started getting really serious about it and even now, when it’s the offseason.

“I play ball in the house all the time,” Meeker says, acknowledging that he’s broken a window or two. “Every day my mom yells at me for kicking the ball in the house. Coach told us if we’re not getting yelled at for playing in the house, we’re not doing our job.”

Meeker trains four to five hours a day, either by himself or with his development academy, Los Angeles Futbol Club. The exception is during track and field season, when he works on the long jump, then it’s only two or three hours a day.

“It’s all about having fun,” says Meeker, a junior at La Cañada High. “Winning is cool, but I’m really lucky to be playing out here with my friends.”

Meeker decided to join his high school soccer team this year and scored 33 goals in 26 games, the second highest total in the CIF Southern Section and fourth-most in the state. He also had 13 assists.

With Meeker, an All-CIFfirst-team pick and the Rio Hondo League Most Valuable Offensive Player, leading the way, the Spartans only lost three games and ran the table in league.

And for those reasons, Cameron Meeker was voted the 2010 All-Area Boys’ Soccer Player of the Year by the sports editors and writers of the La Cañada Valley Sun, Glendale News-Press and Burbank Leader.

“It was fun to watch him play,” teammate Aayush Shah says. “And it was fun to play with him.”

Thus, one has to wonder why Meeker didn’t play for La Cañada in his freshman and sophomore years there.

“I was playing academy those first two years,” Meeker says. “I made a decision at the start of this season with [La Cañada boys’ soccer Coach] Barry [Ritson] that this was the best path for me.”

This year also happened to be Ritson’s first year as La Cañada’s head coach. Ritson also works at LAFC as a development coach.

Along with that was the aspect of playing with not just teammates, but friends.

“I really liked playing with all my friends,” Meeker says. “There was no hatred, everyone worked together. I got all those goals thanks to my team.”

Apparently, everyone enjoyed playing with him, too.

“He helped the team by drawing in players,” forward Matt Cannata says. “His presence affected the game. Having Meeker play central forward was key to our success.”

The transition from club to high school play was relatively easy for Meeker, but it had a few rocky moments. He scored two goals in the Spartans’ first game and zero in their next two. One of those zero-goal games was their first loss.

But the Spartans (23-3-1) found their groove, and after a second loss to Canyon on Dec. 26, the Spartans didn’t lose another game for the rest of the regular season — 15 straight wins, plus a perfect 10-0 mark in league en route to capturing the Rio Hondo League title.

Cannata and Meeker, with help from forward Matt McKenzie, were a force on offense.

By mid-season, Meeker says Cannata was playfully taunting him that he was going to score more goals.

Cannata remembers it differently.

“I don’t remember saying that,” says Cannata, shifting his eyes. “But it’s fun to have a little competition.”

After sweeping through league, the Spartans entered the playoffs as the No. 5 seed in CIF Southern Section Division V.

A 5-1 win over Perris and a 3-0 victory over Pioneer Valley paved the way for a quarterfinals match against Salesian.

Meeker was double-teamed the entire match, sometimes even triple-teamed, and he was held scoreless.

In a scoreless tie, the game went to overtime, where a tipped shot got past La Cañada goalkeeper Jack Hale. Salesian squeaked by with a 1-0 win.

“It was a heartbreaker,” Meeker says. “We played well. We definitely played so well and kept it even.”

No other team took Salesian to overtime in the playoffs, and no one else was able to get within a goal of them. Salesian won the Division V title and the CIF Southern California Regional Division III championship.

“This should have been the finals match,” said Salesian Coach Mark Johnson of the showdown.

But as the season closed for La Cañada in that quarterfinal game, the accomplishments told the whole story.

Though the Spartans lose a few seniors, Cannata, Gartside, Hale and midfielder Danny Thompson will return. Returning for his senior year is a tantalizing idea for Meeker, even if a spot opens on LAFC Chelsea’s U18 squad, his current club squad.

“I don’t know what I’m doing about next year,” Meeker says. “I’m basically just thinking about playing time and college exposure.”