Mattapoisett soccer player snags MVP, 107 career goals
Eliza Van Voorhis has goals, in fact, she's got more than 100 of them.
This season, the Falmouth Academy senior and Mattapoisett native broke Karen Geagan’s 20-year-old record at her school, achieving 100 career goals. And she kept going – ending her four years of soccer at 107 and leaving an impressive target for the students who come after her.
“When I was younger I didn't think it was possible…then it got closer and closer,” Van Voorhis said.
As the record came within reach, she said the tension grew.
“This fall I realized if I scored twenty-nine goals, then it would happen,” said Van Voorhis, the daughter of Rachel and Charlie Van Voorhis. “Every game this whole season I was chipping away at that number. Then when it happened, it was a huge weight off me.”
Van Voorhis scored her first varsity soccer goal in seventh grade, followed by eight in eighth grade, 16 in ninth, 27 in 10th, 20 in 11th and, finally, 35 this season.
The achievement comes after years of sports. As the youngest of four kids, Van Voorhis and her siblings were each multi-season athletes from childhood.
In high school, Van Voorhis joined three teams – soccer, basketball and lacrosse – and said she appreciates how much variety the different players add to her life.
“I love how in all these sports teams, my friends are spread out. There’s people I wouldn’t have been friends with without sports. You get a lot closer than just going to class with someone,” she said.
Her attitude on the field has garnered the record breaker more than friends. This year she was MVP for soccer for the third time, after coaches across the Cape and Islands League voted for her.
Said faculty member Peter Kent, in addition to being vice president of Student Council, a member of the National Honors Society and active in community service, Van Voorhis, “like her three siblings before her, [is] immensely popular with schoolmates and teachers.”
While Van Voorhis downplays her MVPs, she does spend more time on the field than most high school students as part of a competitive New England Football Club team based in the Boston area. These honors will, no doubt, help Van Voorhis as she looks to play soccer in college. Where exactly, she hasn't decided yet.
For now, the soon-to-be graduate is thankful that she still gets to suit up for basketball and lacrosse, even as the end of her soccer career is still bittersweet.
“I've never been a part of a team that got along so well. It was so easy. It was just about soccer and supporting each other. I'll miss that more than actually soccer.”