Senior Salute: Cory Ryan Steps Up In Final Season
10/19/2014 10:40:00 AM | Women's Soccer
COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Forward Cory Ryan most likely didn't envision her senior season starting with breaking her wrist against Pepperdine in the University of Maryland women's soccer team's second game of the fall.
She probably also didn't think she'd be back on the field a little more than two weeks later, playing with a white padded cast encasing the lower half of her left arm.
“I knew they wouldn't have me play if it wasn't ready,” Ryan said of her wrist. “You just get used to the cast.”
Growing up outside of Boston with three older sisters and a younger brother, Ryan has seen her fair share of rough recreation.
She started playing soccer when she was five or six, splitting her time between a league team and basketball, softball and track. Soccer was always her favorite though; she said she loved it from the beginning.
After playing on local teams, she entered the competitive club soccer circuit, playing with teammate Lauren Berman and against teammates Alex Doody and Amanda Gerlitz.
Her speed and agility on the ball had made her a standout from a young age, said Maryland head coach Jonathan Morgan, who first saw Ryan when his team played hers in a U11 league.
“She's super dynamic,” he said. “She has an explosiveness that you can't teach … not many people have it. It's like the ball is glued to her feet when she dribbles.”
Her technical skills were on display Friday night against Northwestern when she kept control of the ball and fired off a shot from 30 meters out after being tripped by a defender. The Terps battled to a 0-0 finish, by Ryan's attempt was one of the closest of the night.
If anything, Morgan said he wishes she would believe in herself more in one-on-one attacking situations.
“She's faster and better than almost anyone out there that she could take on,” he said.
Although shy and soft-spoken, Ryan stepped up to lead by example, cheering for teammates during preseason boot camp's grueling workouts.
“It's always fun to play with her,” said teammate Shade Pratt, also a senior forward. “You always want to work just as hard as she's working.”
The team will honor all of that hard work when Ryan and Pratt are recognized for senior night before the start of Sunday's game. Before the match, teammates decorate the senior's lockers and at the actual game their families join them for a short ceremony on the field.
For Ryan, the experience doesn't quite feel right.
“As an underclassman, I always looked up to the upperclassmen,” she said. “I never thought I'd ever be one. But once you are you just try to set a good example … you've got that leadership role.”
Now playing with just a brace, she sets the standard of what it means to persevere through a potentially season-ending injury.
“She wants this season to be great,” Morgan said. “Sometimes seniors say that but don't step it up and do it. You can tell she's ready to step up and help our team be successful.”
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Catherine Sheffo, a junior journalism major at the University of Maryland, is a contributing writer to umterps.com. |
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