For some reason, Byron-Bergen girls soccer was only ranked third in New York State (as of October 1) among Class C schools, trailing two teams (Stillwater of Section II and Lancaster St. Mary’s of CHSAA) that both have a loss and a tie. It’s surprising since the Bees are off to a 12-0-0 record and have outscored their opponents 78-3.
“That’s okay – it only matters at the end of the year,” Byron-Bergen head coach Wayne Hill said. “If there’s teams ahead of us, so be it. We’ll play who is in front of us, and then we’ll play the next game.”
“Those teams are definitely really, really good and losses and ties you learn from,” junior and leading scorer Mia Gray said.
The Bees have won four games 10-0, another 9-0 and an 8-0 final. Kendall, ranked fourth in the state, gave them a bit of a scare in what was a 2-1 victory. The other two goals allowed through the first 12 games were scored by Attica and Wheatland-Chili. The Bees have nine shutouts.
“It’s a great feeling every time we come out of the woods onto the field,” junior Elizabeth Starowitz said about the team’s pre-game tradition. “Every game, we come out as hard as we can; we are confident, we win, we score, we pass to each other like we worked super, super hard to get in this position.”
Gray, committed to play collegiately at the University of Florida in 2026, leads all of Section V in scoring with 26 goals and 19 assists for 71 points.
Junior Grace DiQuattro is second with 38 points and 12 goals, Starowicz is third with 12 goals and seven assists, while senior Janessa Amesbury has 11 goals with three assists.
If not the scoring, the defense must be a bit of a surprise after the Bees lost senior Ava Gray on the back end for the season with a knee injury. In most games, the team starts a freshman (Lucy Rea), two juniors (Megan Jarkiewicz and Ava Goff), and one senior (Ashley Schlenker-Stephens) on defense in front of senior goalkeeper Natalie Prinzi, who stood sixth in Section V with a .25 goals against average while playing more minutes than any other keeper.
“When Ava went down, we had to put somebody in, and Lucy just blossomed as a center-back,” Hill said. “She played center-mid on JV last year, so it’s only one level back. Phenomenal on the ball, so I don’t really want to say a surprise, but a great addition in the back. And the other ones complement everybody … it’s a really cohesive group in that back.”
“The defensive players have chemistry like I’ve never seen before; they play high-low, they have speed, they win balls, they’re aggressive,” Starowicz said.
“Everyone listens to each other too, so when they explain, everyone will follow,” Gray added.
Despite players graduating through the years and new players taking over key roles, Byron-Bergen is trying to win its fifth consecutive Section V title. That’s a tribute to both the players on the field and the system in place from top to bottom.
“All three coaches talk to each other, we have a clear vision that we want mods to be able to do this, when they get to JV, they can do that, and then they’re ready for varsity,” Hill summarized.
“None of the coaches compete with each other; we’re all there for each other and want to make sure as the kids come up, they see what’s in front of them and what they have to play with. It’s a good system.”
With four games remaining in the regular season, a fifth consecutive Section V title is within reach and maybe some success in the state tournament.
