Fans who have made it to an LSU soccer game this season have probably noticed a little something extra on throw-ins.When her team earns a throw-in, junior midfielder Veronica Godbolt does the honors. Like something from the Brazilian national team, she takes the ball behind her bench and charges the sideline. Just as she nears the playing field she somersaults over the ball and pops back up, her momentum lofting the throw deep downfield to her teammates.”It’s something I tried in high school,” Godbolt said. “My little brother and me used to go out and play around with it, but eventually I stopped. During summer training at LSU … I pulled that out … and [LSU coach] Brian [Lee] just looked at me and asked ‘Veronica, you’ve been here for four years now and you’re just showing me that?'”The move is more about strategy than acrobatics. And it continues to surprise crowds as well as opponents, which is the point.”It catches people off guard because it’s more like a corner kick or a set piece than a throw in,” Godbolt said. “And it’s a huge advantage for us because our team is so great in the air. We’ve got some girls that can really get after it.”But this extra bit of athleticism doesn’t come as a surprise to those who know her. The Austin, Texas, native has excelled at nearly every sport she’s tried.     Soccer was her first sport, but there was also swimming and volleyball, which she played all the way through high school. Godbolt even took up golf as a senior in high school, scoring a hole-in-one in one of her first tournaments. Her mother, Patricia Godbolt, recalls it was a surprise she even continued with soccer.”Most people from Austin thought she would play volleyball in college, as she played that sport at such a high level and traveled even more than she did at soccer,” she said. But it seems Veronica’s family was destined for football — some form of it at least. Her father, Michael Godbolt, played college football and went on to coach at Boston College, Illinois and Texas, and her younger brother Kyle currently plays for Abilene Christian. Her older brother, AJ, played soccer for Maryland and went on to play for the Kansas City Wizards of Major League Soccer, while her younger sister, Jordan, is a midfielder for Texas.”It’s all very competitive in a good way,” Jordan Godbolt said. “We push each other at everything, and every time [Veronica] is who I want to beat.”Godbolt’s family is thankful just to see a somersault throw in. Injuries have plagued Godbolt’s playing career from the time she arrived at LSU. After missing time as a freshman with a sprained MCL, she redshirted her  sophomore season following reconstructive surgery on a torn MCL. Halfway through her redshirt sophomore season, in the midst of LSU’s most successful season to date, Godbolt suffered a severe ankle injury that forced her to miss significant time in the run to the NCAA tournament.”Every year it’s a season-ending injury,” Godbolt said. “You just start to ask, ‘Am I ever going to be healthy? Am I going to have a season where I can play, and [Lee] won’t worry about me getting hurt?’ It was heartbreaking, but it made me want to get out there even more.”The hard work helped Godbolt crack the Tigers’ starting lineup just in time for a 5-0 run to open 2008 — another win would mean LSU’s best start ever. Godbolt has also been injury-free for the program’s best-ever ranking — No. 11 in the Soccer America Top 25.”Playing for LSU is amazing,” she said. “We’re breaking new ground, and hopefully this program will become a Texas or a North Carolina. The coaching staff is so great.”Back in Austin, her sister may not be so impressed.”She’s pretty quick to throw rankings in my face,” Jordan Godbolt said. “I always ask her, ‘Oh, you’ve been looking at the rankings? Well then you know that [Texas] is four or five spots ahead of [LSU].’ That usually gets her to be quiet.”Godbolt’s grandmother checks the soccer team’s status online every day, and the entire extended family flocked to Austin in the spring when the Tigers played the Longhorns to a 1-1 draw.”I came both times for the surgeries and was amazed how well she handled very difficult situations,” Patricia Godbolt said. “I know she is very happy with her choice as she is so proud of LSU.”  Contact David Helman at [email protected]