Senior center back fielder Henry Gager of Rye Soccer relishes his crucial role as a defensive stopper. He doesn’t mind either the rush he gets from successfully putting his shoes between the goal and all the cocky offensive minded players he confronts on his end of the field.
“It’s always fun to play against kids who think they can score goals and being able to shut them down,” he says.
As team co-captain, he helps run practices and the pre-game warm ups but leading means more than fulfilling the standard responsibilities. “It’s important to give the guys a good role model and have someone to look up to so everyone knows we have to take care of business on game day,” he says.
That will be especially important following the loss of six senior starters from last season.
Nonetheless, he sees a pretty successful conclusion to his high school soccer career. A large contingent of returning juniors and seniors are joining with a couple of newcomers who will put an international spin on Rye’s home cooking. With one student arriving from Brazil and another from Argentina, he says, “I think they are going to have a big impact.”
As hard as leaving all that behind will be, graduation won’t be anything to pass on either. He’s committed to play soccer at the University of Pennsylvania in the fall. Playing on a division I team, he says, “I think it’s a great accomplishment and I’m really looking forward to it.”
Majoring in economics and business, and doing his part on defense, the future is looking like a hat trick.
No comments:
Post a Comment