Former Nansemond River High School field hockey standout Shelbi Holloman continued to shine at Roanoke College in her sophomore season with the Maroons.

Her performance this year drew an individual honor that had not come to a Maroon field hockey player since 2009 — a first-team All-ODAC selection.

“I just worked hard this season, and it really means a lot that other coaches saw my hard work, and it all paid off in the end,” Holloman said.

Goals have helped drive her to greater success, but not necessarily the kind of goals she scores on the field with increasing frequency. Rather, she is driven by the goals she sets for herself and has a habit of exceeding.

After earning the third-team All-Old Dominion Athletic Conference honor as a freshman, she told her coaches she wanted to move up to either the second or first team this year.

She scored five goals in 2013. This year, she wanted eight.

Holloman ended up leading her team with 14 goals. At the end of the regular season, coach Briana Banks said, Holloman led all players in the ODAC.

Banks was thrilled when she learned of Holloman’s first team honor.

“I couldn’t have been more ecstatic for the girl,” Banks said. “She worked extremely hard. She deserved the award.”

The coach described Holloman as “super-skilled, really knowledgeable, very fast and super-competitive.”

With all of those elements combined, “it makes just one great player,” Banks said.

When Holloman’s former coach at Nansemond River, Ali Mowry, heard about her sophomore year and the All-ODAC accolade, she said, “It doesn’t surprise me how well she’s doing with that team. I think she’s a go-getter.”

Banks said Holloman has grown as a player since her freshman year.

“I think just the experience gave her a lot more confidence to be the type of player that she knows that she can be,” Banks said.

Holloman’s says she has improved in her ability to work with her teammates, in her spatial awareness and in anticipating their moves.

“I think I’ve grown and matured more with knowing kind of where my teammates are (on the field) over the past two years,” she said.

When listing her highlights for the year, Holloman said, “We trusted each other, and we knew where each other was going to be.”

Holloman’s improvement also helped improve her team’s performance.

They went 3-13 last year, but improved to 8-11 in 2014.

Holloman said they just missed qualifying for the ODAC playoffs, and she thinks that if they keep up the intensity next year, they’ll make the playoffs.

She’ll put it on her list of goals for next year.