Orford
Lyndes made such considerations moot with her play at last fall’s tryout. Considering Lyndes’ soccer resume and the impressions she left over four years on Rivendell’s back line, Goodwin liked the thought of giving his top back one more high school game.
So instead of its usual moniker, call today’s Castleton University contest the Lyndes Cup.
“Defenders don’t get a lot of the spotlight, but I’m totally fine with it,” Lyndes said on Wednesday during a break from an evening workout with the Raptors. “I love defense. I think it’s almost a better feeling to save a goal and prevent goals than it is to score one.”
The Upper Valley won’t lack for representation at Castleton today. Goodwin selected six area girls — Windsor’s Maddy Morse, Hartford’s Kayla Lancor, Oxbow’s Wren Smith and Woodstock’s Kaija sisters, Abby and Lauren — as part of his Vermont roster. They’ll open the Spartan Stadium doubleheader at 4 p.m. against a New Hampshire team that includes Hanover forward Kelly Brigham.
Area stars will dot the boys roster for the 6:30 p.m. nightcap as well. Record-setting Hanover High midfielder Asa Berolzheimer, New Hampshire’s Gatorade player of the year last autumn, will be joined by Marauder teammate Ian Caldwell, Lebanon’s Chris Morse and Hugh Townsend and Woodsville back Chris Sarkis against a Vermont squad that counts Woodstock’s Alex Crompton and Cole Dalton on its roster.
Lyndes hasn’t always been sure of where she fit in Vermont’s soccer picture. She’s just enjoyed where the game has taken her.
A striker through youth soccer, Lyndes made the conversion to sweeper when Goodwin asked her to do it as a freshman. Her speed has been her ally against some very good Central Vermont League competition. Her nose for the goal has also come in handy on occasional counterattacks.
“It was challenging at first, but Coach helped me out a lot,” Lyndes said. “He practiced with me and talked with me a lot and pushed me to see my full potential.
“In fact, I thought freshman year Coach was kind of hard on me, and I didn’t understand why. Looking back now, I can see why, and I appreciate it.”
Goodwin hasn’t steadfastly employed one style of play over Lyndes’ four years, instead tweaking Rivendell’s tactics to suit the abilities of the players. Whether she’s been aligned in a back four or behind a line of defenders as a last-gap stopper, Lyndes has been a consistent part of the Raptors’ defense.
“Typically, preseason I try people all over the place,” Goodwin said. “I put her back (on defense as a freshman), and that’s when we ran a double sweeper system. With her speed and tenacity and smarts, she just did a great job.
“The next year, we decided to go with a single sweeper system, because we had Corrie. We had the ability to do that.”
That often meant face-to-face matchups against the likes of high-scoring Sharon speedster Mallory Lloyd and others. Owner of 34 goals last fall, Lloyd struck just once in two matches with the Raptors in 2015, a loss and a tie, in part because Lyndes could match her stride for stride. Lyndes even netted a goal, her only one of the season, in the 2-2 draw back on Oct. 12.
According to Goodwin, Sharon coach Blake Fabrikant called Lyndes “the only one that they play all year long that can keep up with Mallory,” the Rivendell coach said. “Those two had great competition for the few years together they had in high school.”
Despite those successes, Lyndes harbored uncertainty about where should stood among her defensive peers … until she hit Lions Cup tryouts last fall.
“I really didn’t think I’d make it on the team,” said Lyndes, a Fairlee resident who received all-CVL and all-state recognition the last two years. “When I got the letter that said I made the team, I was totally ecstatic. It’s just a great opportunity to know that I get to play one more soccer game, and with my coach.”
Goodwin saw Lyndes’ Cup candidacy as a slam dunk from the start.
“Putting her on the team wasn’t hard,” Goodwin said. “When we got back in the room with all the coaches to talk (after tryouts), there was no one there that had a problem. Everybody was saying the same thing.
“More than halfway through, I overheard another coach saying, ‘Can you imagine her on the outside back playing in the Lions Cup?’ It was easy.”
Lyndes, who played on Lightning Soccer Club teams the last three years and is getting outside back time for the Norwich-based Touchline Women of the New Hampshire Soccer Conference this summer, is just the second Rivendell athlete, boy or girl, to make the Lions Cup. She’ll head to St. Michael’s College this fall with plans to play club soccer.
She just has one more stop to make today — or several, if New Hampshire presses hard enough.
“I know she’s excited,” Goodwin said. “To her, to me, to the school, to the community, it means a ton. We know how good she is, but now the state recognizes her.”
Greg Fennell can be reached at gfennell@vnews.com or 603-727-3226.