She's second in state in soccer scoring, among Indy-area leaders in football scoring, too.

MONROVIA — Playing soccer since she was four years old, Monrovia junior Emery Newlin has a natural talent for kicking the ball. Enough so that she was recruited to join the school’s kicker-less football team in fall 2021, her freshman year.

“We were just in need of someone to kick, and I happened to have her in class that year, in a college and careers class,” Monrovia football coach Andy Olson said. “And I just asked her, I said, ‘Hey, do you think you can kick a football?’”

Originally, Newlin said she brushed off the ask. But Olson was persistent — especially after a loss.

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A week after he asked her to join the team, the Class 2A Bulldogs lost by a point because of a failed 2-point conversion attempt; something they had to do because they didn’t have a kicker.

“(Olson) texted my dad after the game and kind of put me out there on the spot,” Newlin said.  “And then the next week, I was at practice.”

With that, her after-school schedule became a lot more hectic. When school gets out at 2:40 p.m., Newlin — who lives just two minutes away — races home to change for practice. She gets back to campus and out to the football fields north of the school by 3 p.m., where she quickly practices with the special teams unit.

Then, she’s off to the soccer fields south of the school by 3:30 p.m. for the full two-hour soccer practice. There isn’t really any schedule overlap, unless the football team has an away game; then, she’ll cut out of Friday soccer practice a little bit early.

Her biggest adjustment, though, has been learning the differences between kicking a soccer ball and a football.

“Before a game, I have to warm up and adjust to what I’m doing,” Newlin said. “Leaning back on the football and leaning over a soccer ball, and just working with that at the beginning of the game.”

Most of the time, she can seamlessly move in between the adjustments.

Key word: most.

“Occasionally, she'll lean back and it'll soar over the goal,” Monrovia soccer coach Betsy McCrary said. “We kind of just look at it and we're like, ‘Wrong sport.’ But that's about it.”

Newlin has found a way to be successful in both sports. She is second in the state with 46 goals, trailing only Culver's Giselle Villegas’ total of 48.

In football, she is among the Indianapolis-area kicking scoring leaders with 36 points.

“I think it's just her natural ability to be good at everything she does,” Olson said. “It's nothing special, she's just been born with a gift to excel at the sports that she plays. She works really hard every day at them and you know, it's nothing that she hasn't earned. It's something that she's worked hard for.”

On top of that, she is a natural leader. Newlin has been a varsity soccer player since her freshman year, and McCrary noticed her ability to be a leader from the first time she stepped onto the field. Newlin became a captain of the as a sophomore.

Newlin, who graduates in 2025, has committed to the University of Dayton to play soccer. While she said football has posed a unique opportunity for her, she was always looking to continue her soccer career collegiately.

“She's become a much more vocal leader on and off the field,” McCrary said. “As far as her skills, I mean, she's out here training, every practice. She was here over the summer. She's just very dedicated to the sport.”

Newlin will lead the Bulldogs girls soccer team into the postseason on Tuesday, as Monrovia kicks off sectional play at home, taking on Northview at 7:15 p.m.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IHSAA football, girls soccer: Emery Newlin stands out on both teams