Girls Soccer Player of the Year: Nader keys Lassiter's formidable defense

In the Class AAAAAA state championship game against Cambridge, Celeste Nader prepared to take a penalty spot for the final time in a Lassiter jersey.

She sent it into the back of the net — one of three penalty kicks that helped the Lady Trojans secure the title.

Nader was an integral component of Lassiter’s formidable defensive backline, which helped lead the team to its first undefeated season and its first state title since 2016.

Because of her accomplishments, Nader was recognized as the 2022 Cobb County Girls Soccer Player of the Year, as voted on by the county’s coaches.

As a center back, Nader was also named to the Class AAAAAA all-state team, as well as the all-South team, as determined by the United Soccer Coaches Organization.

As a senior, Nader said this season’s accomplishments were the most fulfilling in her high school career.

“It was everything anyone could ask for,” Nader said. “Winning state your senior year with quite possibly the best team that I could have asked for — I mean, what a way to end it. It felt amazing.”

Nader, who began playing soccer as a 7-year-old at Mount Bethel United Methodist Church, said she fell in love with the game almost immediately. However, it was not until Nader started playing club soccer when her skills began to refine.

In a stint with the U.S. Soccer Development Academy earlier in her teenage years, Nader detailed a moment that proved particularly influential in her route to becoming a state champion. A coach had identified her talent and gave her the inspiration to continue focusing on soccer.

“I remember specifically, he told me that I could be a great player and I could go really far if I put the effort in. I don’t know why, but something about that stuck with me,” Nader said. “Just him acknowledging that I can go far and that he sees my potential, I think that’s what made me put in the effort and got me to where I am today.”

Even as a top performer at Lassiter, Nader said she sharpened aspects of her game to help the team win, the most imperative being her sense of leadership.

Nader said she was a vocal leader in both practices and games, giving advice to younger players and maintaining defensive alignments throughout games. Without a leader in the back of the formation, Nader said it would have been hard for her team to reach its goals.

“I had a couple of people that I looked up to, especially when I was a freshman and new to the whole thing,” Nader said. “Having that upperclassmen to kind of help guide me was really important, so I know that that’s kind of the role that I wanted to play.”

For a team centered on defensive efficiency, Lassiter coach Robbie Galvin said it was important to have a leader like Nader as a last line of defense. However, beyond her aggressive shut-down style, Galvin described her as calculated in distributing the ball up-field.

“She’s a chameleon,” Galvin said. “She can be aggressive and a fighter, if that’s what she needs to do. She can also be very fluid and natural as well. Whatever you need, her role and responsibility to be as a center back, she makes it happen.”

This fall Nader, will attend The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina, where she plans to continue her soccer career, while furthering her role as a leader. She said she chose to enroll at the military academy, with her inspiration drawing from life on and off the field.

Still, discipline and hard work remained a constant in her decision.

“My parents are a huge inspiration to me, as they were both in the military, and hearing their stories and where the military led them, that sparked the idea into my head,” Nader said. “I always strive to be the best, and with me just getting more disciplined, I think The Citadel is the perfect path for me to get there.”

Even for a player with such an accomplished high school and club record, Nader said she is eager to compete at the next level, but she was also quick to attribute her individual accomplishments to the added efforts of her teammates.

She said without she and her Lassiter teammates buying into the team’s overall mantra, she would not have reached the level of consistency she boasts today.

“Individual achievements are an honor to receive, but it’s not necessarily the individual achievements that push you to do better,” Nader said. “It’s the team achievements. So, us winning state and us winning region, I feel like those mean more to me than (being named all-state). The ring is more important to me than those titles.”