Athlete Of The Week: Cody Holbert

NORTH EASTHAM – Cody Holbert seemed to genuinely not be able to miss the net during a five-goal output as part of Nauset Storm’s 11-0 win against Breakers FC on Sunday.

 Take his final score of the night, for example. Holbert was caught in between trying to chip a ball towards the opposing goalkeeper and sending a crossing pass to teammate Charlie Cushing. The resulting strike came out basically flawless as an attempt at the goal, with Holbert delivering a high, unsaveable arc on a bounce into the far top corner.

 He was in a “flow state,” he said.

 “Everything just clicks,” Holbert said.

 A rising senior at Assumption University, Holbert is the Cape Cod Soccer League’s leading scorer this year by far, according to Nauset manager John McCully.

 “He’s a difference maker for us,” McCully said.

 Moreover, this is Holbert’s first season with Nauset, who are once again playing at/near the top of the league table (and would be tied for first were it not for a two-point penalty garnered by a forfeit due to unforeseen circumstances at the beginning of July — see separate story).

 “I've played with a bunch of these guys before, but they've kind of accepted me with open arms,” Holbert said. “It's been great.”

 A Marshfield resident, Holbert gave credit to those guys for his explosive scoring against Breakers.

 “I have a lot of great teammates,” he said. “I mean, they set me up pretty well. When you're getting set up well, it's easy to finish the ball.”

 Holbert also kept sight of the fact that not every match for Nauset was going to be a clean sheet with double-digit goal totals. He said he’s a big believer in perfecting the things that need to be improved. Such as, Nauset could have used the game to work on their press and make sure their touches were clean.

 “We can't build the bad habits,” Holbert said. “It's very easy to go through the motions when you're up by that many goals and just concede goals, create bad habits, so you’ve just got to stay focused. Try to try to pull back a little bit, but not totally off the pedal.”