The movies Sister Act 1 & 2 came out in the early 1990s. Sister Act 3 was last season as the Byron-Bergen girls soccer team had four pairs of sisters on the roster on their way to a Section V title before losing in the state semi-finals.
This year’s squad, ranked second among Class C schools in the Sept. 25th New York State rankings with a 9-0 record while outscoring their opponents 67-1, is down to just two pairs of siblings, but all are key cogs in the Bees offensive and defensive machines.
Sophomore Ava Gray and freshman sister, Mia, had 25 goals and 17 assists together while junior Emma Starowitz and freshman sister, Libby, had combined for 15 goals and 14 assists through the first nine games of the campaign.
Mia Gray stood second in all of Section V in goals.
“I love her; we have an amazing time and we support each other,” Ava Gray said about playing with her sister, who has been on varsity since she was a seventh-grader. “(Playing with older players) definitely helped her a lot with her skills and moving without the ball.”
“She’s pretty amazing and we work so well together because we played together for so many years,” Emma Starowitz said about playing with her younger sister. “The dinner conversation is always about next game, who we’re playing and always stay humble and hungry as my dad says. No mater how good we’re doing or how many wins we have, gotta stay humble and gotta keep going, because when those sectional games come, they’re going to get harder and harder.”
But the four are far from the only threats on offense. Junior co-captain Makenzie Hagen is tied for sixth in Section V with 15 goals and has added nine helpers. And senior co-captain Kendall Phillips has seven goals with two assists. Senior Julia Will is fifth on the Bees with four assists.
“Defense wins championships, so I always keep that in the back of my head and let my sister do what she does best,” Emma Starowitz said.
“We work a lot on passing and movement and it shows in these games,” head coach Wayne Hill said.
The challenge for the postseason for teams like Byron-Bergen is taking their game from grass to turf, but their touch-passing, possession game, and spacing style should translate well to the faster surface.
“We hope so; we only play on it (turf) once a year until sectionals, so we hope we can scrimmage or practice on it, but it is a different game,” Hill said.
“We really have a great support system; everyone is always cheering for each other even after the sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth goal, you can still hear our whole bench cheering,” Phillips said. “Once we get up by a little bit, that’s when we start to pass and that’s really going to come in handy later (in the season).
“We had a couple of girls graduate and we do miss them, but we had a couple of girls that slid right in and we’ve been playing great with them.”
It is far from just offense for the Bees. Through nine games, they have allowed one goal. The back line is anchored by senior co-captain Ava Waggoner, junior Megan Zwerka-Snyder, Ava Gray, and freshman Megan Jarkiewicz in front of junior goalkeeper Novalee Pocock.
“The great part is our defense has to play against our offense every day in practice,” Hill said. “Everybody contributes when needed, and they’re happy to play for one another.”
“We are here to play and whatever happens, happens, but we would love to make it where we were last year and maybe even win the state tournament,” Phillips concluded.
The Bees finish up their regular season October 14 with the Section V playoffs beginning the following week.
