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Maric brings toughness to Bucs
By LINDA ROTHSTEIN © St. Petersburg Times, published January 18, 2001 NEW PORT RICHEY -- Alex Maric has come a long way to become Gulf's leading scorer. All the way from Bosnia. The 17-year-old and his family fled to Germany seven years ago and came to the United States almost six years later. "We left Bosnia because of the war," Maric said. Maric, who is fluent in Bosnian, German and English, played soccer in Bosnia as a young boy and continued to play while in Germany. He has been a starter for the Buccaneers for two years and leads the team with 22 goals and 14 assists. "They've got more skill over there in Europe," Maric said. "Everybody is playing soccer over there and here they're playing football, baseball. Here it's stronger, they play (with) power and over there they play with more skill." Assistant coach Colin St. Pierre called him "a super star. I'd pick him out of any kid in the county." Maric, who also has played center-midfield, has achieved all this despite playing with a torn meniscus ligament in his left knee. The ligament bulges like a large knot on the outside of his knee but the injury hasn't slowed him down a bit. He plans to have surgery to fix the injury as soon as the soccer season is over. "I like to play soccer and I want to help the team out," Maric said. "I like it when the whole team plays together." Maric is no stranger to playing with pain. In Monday's game against Land O'Lakes, for example, Maric started despite suffering a 101-degree fever the day before. "He's a tough kid," coach Sam Koleduk said. "He'd make a good college player some day. He's played about half the season sick with some kind of injury or the flu or something." The diminutive junior is known for his superior footwork. "He can just take two and three people on at one time then create a shot for another player," Koleduk said. "He's basically our whole offense," he said. "We try to get the ball to him up front to score goals. We're pretty solid defensively but we try to get the ball to Alex up top." Despite his skill, Maric is reserved off the field. "He's very quiet but on the field, everybody respects him," Koleduk said. "He lets his playing do the talking."
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