The countdown of Norwalk’s Top 10 sports stories of the past school year has reached number three, and today we recognize the unforgettable senior soccer season of Jocelyn “JoJo” Bice.

The Warriors’ veteran standout was named Iowa’s 2022 Miss Soccer by the Iowa High School Soccer Coaches Association on June 13 after using her speed and shot-making ability to rank third in the entire state with 46 goals scored. Bice’s three-goal hat trick led Norwalk past Lewis Central, 3-1, in the first round of the Class 2A State Soccer Tournament and she also finished the year with 11 assists.

Bice tells KNIA Sports that a move to forward this spring set her up for more scoring opportunities, but she never imagined a season with 46 goals.

“In the past, (I was) a player that likes to get the assists, I like to make the crosses into the box, so being able to have the opportunity to be the person that’s finishing those crosses and scoring was definitely very fun,” she said.

Bice, a two-time All-State selection, also qualified for the Academic All-State list and will continue her studies and soccer career at Iowa State University starting this fall. In three years as a varsity player at Norwalk, Bice totaled 79 goals and 31 assists.

Bice helped the Warriors make back-to-back appearances in the 2A state semifinals as a junior and senior on teams that finished 16-3 and 17-4, respectively. Bice credits the Warriors’ great success to being surrounded by a group of talented teammates who were dedicated to each other.

“We didn’t end where we wanted to, but we still have much to be proud of going to the state tournament again, which is always a great time and it’s a great place to play soccer,” Bice said.

“We have a giant group of seniors in my class and we’ve all played together forever it seems like. Since elementary [school], we’ve all been playing club together, high school together, and so getting to finish out at the state tournament was the highlight and a great way to end our careers together.”

Today marks Bice’s second appearance in Norwalk’s Top 10 sports list for 2021-2022. She also earned the number nine spot for surpassing 1,000 career points in basketball.