STAC SOCCER: HANRAHAN THE NEXT GREAT STRIKER FOR ELMIRA GIRLS' SOCCER (5 PHOTOS) (2021-09-16)

By Brian Fees
Sports Editor
Over the years the Elmira girls’ soccer team has seen its fair share of great goal scorers.

From Sierra Barr to Kendra Oldroyd and from Alexus to Caylee Boorse the Express have had players capable of lighting up the scoreboard.

Those girls are all gone, all four having gone on to play college soccer, two of them at the Division I level. Now, the Express have the latest in the line of superstars up front as Emily Hanrahan has established herself as one of the top forwards in Section 4.

“We had someone like Sierra Barr when we first started the Express,” Elmira coach Zach Sarno said. “When Sierra graduated, her senior year, we got Kendra, who for us is our all-time leading scorer with 103 goals, which is quite the feat. We had Kendra and Lexi Boorse and then we had Caylee Boorse up front for a while as our main striker and now we have Emily.

“We have been lucky to have some really good strikers and Emily plays year round and that certainly helps her. And, her explosive speed. Speed is something you can’t teach. To have something like that, that’s something you certainly want from a forward and if you look at the forwards I talked about, they all had speed and they were all goal hunters. If you want to be a good forward you have to be a goal hunter and do everything to get the ball in the back of the net and certainly those players can do that and we are fortunate to have another on in Emily, and it’s nice, she’s only in her junior year.”

As she was growing up Hanrahan watched all those great strikers before her, and it drove her to want to be like they were.

“I did actually, I watched a lot of the past players like Kendra Oldroyd and Alexus Boorse,” Hanrahan said. “It made me want to score goals just as good as them.”

Watching Oldroyd score over 100 goals was amazing to Hanrahan. It also showed her what can happen if you put in the work.

“It’s crazy to see a girl from Elmira score that many goals in only four seasons,” Hanrahan said. “It did (inspire her), because I think if you work hard enough it can happen.”

It’s been a bit of a crazy start to her high school career.

After coming up to varsity as a freshman, last year there was no fall season, and the Express only got a shortened season in the spring.

“I’m really excited,” Hanrahan said of this season. “We finally get to play normal again, without masks and as a team again.”

While Hanrahan has great speed, she also has size to go with it. It’s part of what’s helped her score nine goals so far this season.

“Her speed, and her size,” Sarno said of the combination that helps Hanrahan. “She’s grown into her body a little bit. When we first brought her up as a freshman, she was like freshmen are, she was small and not like she is now. Now, she’s stronger and older and as you do that your strength and speed just get faster and that’s good, thats’ a good aspect for us. She’s just grown and gotten bigger, stronger and faster.”

While Hanrahan has had a lot of success, she has had plenty of help, with players like Mia Capilli and Tierney Krawczyk controlling the ball on defense and in the midfield to help set up the junior striker.

“It helps e tremendously, we have such a good midfield and such a good defense and that helps get the ball to me,” Hanrahan said. “Without them, I wouldn’t be able to score any goals.

“It’s good to have because I can trust them with the ball and I know they can get it up to me.”

And, it takes pressure off when other players find the net. Capilli is just a freshman and on Wednesday it was sophomore Emily Klotz finding the net as well.

“It definitely takes pressure off me, because there are times I won’t be open,” Hanrahan said.

It’s hard for Hanrahan to get open looks at times, because teams are really keying on her defensively.

“It’s a little bit different because now I have to figure out new strategies and ways to weave around the defense,” Hanrahan said.

As good as the junior is, Sarno knows there will be tough nights and how she responds to that is what is going to make her an even greater player.

“We talked about that,” Sarno said. “We had a couple games where she went through a thing where she was missing a little bit. She had some chances against UE she didn’t put away and we talked about taking some deep breaths when things don’t go your way.

“If she does that she is going to be really successful all the time, because sometimes things don’t work out for you. We talked about ways to cope when things aren’t going well for her. And, usually they are and when they are she’s very hard to stop.”

One thing that Hanrahan has seen is that when teams key on her it means someone else is open.

On Wednesday she raced to recover a ball at the end line, saved it from going out of bounds and crossed it to Klotz for the goal.

“It’s definitely different,” Hanrahan said of when teams key on her. “Then I can move it outside and find open players in the middle.”

After the odd season a year ago, this is a big year for Hanrahan as a junior hoping to get looks from colleges.

“It’s a big year because this is my second to last year in high school.”

The plan for Hanrahan is to play in college, and she has some big goals.

“For me, I’d love to play Division I soccer, but anything is possible,” she said.

With 17 goals in just 12 games last spring and nine goals so far this season, anything truly is possible for the Elmira star.