By Dave Long for the Dayton Daily News

WEST CARROLLTON | When it comes to goal scoring, Annie Messer has the family monopoly.

The West Carrollton High School junior has emerged as one of Ohio's top soccer scorers. She is fourth in state in goals with 21. Stacey Lucas of Wayne is the leader with 24 and Lauren Sharpe of Tippecanoe is third with 22 according to Ohio Soccer Stats run by the state coaches association.

Messer is third in points with 51 (21 goals worth two points, 9 assists good for a point). Lucas also leads that category with 57.

Messer has two sisters playing Division I college soccer — Amanda, a senior midfielder at Kent Sate and Kaitlin, a freshman midfielder/forward at Youngstown State. Amanda graduated from Cincinnati McNicholas while Kaitlin went to West Carrollton.

Neither of them have scored a goal this season. "Getting goals at the college level is really hard even for the really good players," said Messer. "They're both very skilled, but they're playing more defensive roles and don't get that many shots.

"So I guess I'm the scorer in the family. They've both taught me a lot, especially Kaitlin because I played with her for two years."

Messer has scored 21 of her team's 35 goals. She has three matches with five or more goals.

"I wasn't as aggressive last year as I am this season," she said. "A lot of it was being a sophomore. This year I'm stronger on the ball, picking my shooting opportunities better and getting my shots off quicker.

"I've had to be a lot more physical as the season has gone along because I'm getting marked (guarded) by two or three players. Sometimes even getting the ball is tough."

If Messer doesn't have a weekend game, she and her parents will go to watch her sisters play at Kent or Youngstown depending on which team is at home.

Kent played at Youngstown on Sept. 16 and won, 3-0. Amanda got three shots on goal while Kaitlin had one. "I just cheered for both of them to do the best they could," said Messer. "It's been a tough year for Kaitlin because Youngstown (0-12) still hasn't won a game."

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