St. John's Country Day from Orange Park, Fla., is a small school with a student population of only 650 from pre-k though 12th grade. It is also the home of some of the best girls' soccer players not only in the state but in the nation.

Since 2004 St. John's, led by head coach Mike Pickett, has won the Florida 2A state championship three times and was runner-up once. Several girls who play for St. John's also play for the Ponte Vedra Storm, which placed second in the US Youth Soccer Association under-16 nation championships this past summer. Picket is an assistant coach of the Storm.

"I run highly competitive training sessions and the kids respond and have developed a competitive spirit," Pickett said. "We have competition for everything we do in training from the warm-up to the final drill. I'm fortunate enough to have 18 very coachable and talented kids that loved being pushed."

Nowhere does that show up more than in the national recognition that his players are starting to receive.

Juniors Annie Bobbitt and Kaili Torres are currently on a 10-day tour in Argentina with the U.S. Soccer under-17 national team. They are competing to make the U.S. U17 World Cup roster for next year. This is Bobbitt's first national team experience, but Torres has been in camp prior to this trip.

Bobbitt was noticed at the inter-regional camp in Coral Springs, Fla., and brought into the national pool for the trip to Argentina.

Sophomore Carson Pickett, Torres and junior Sarah Voigt were named to the NSCAA All-Region Team for 2009. Carson was just named to the NSCAA High School All-American Team for 2009, one of six sophomores to make the list. Voigt, a goalkeeper who has committed to Notre Dame, was an ESPN RISE All-America selection last year.

"Annie is a great organizer and athlete. She will probably commit with Georgia, Duke or Virginia before Christmas," Mike Pickett said. "My keeper, Sarah Voigt, has already verbally committed to Notre Dame and my holding mid, Tyler [Law], has verbally committed to Tennessee. So, this group has done well and play club and high school together."