By PAUL GOTHAM
Lindsay Lenhard already had State Player of the Year listed on her resumé, and the Spencerport Ranger star couldn’t quite imagine a higher individual honor.
That is until earlier this week when the United Soccer Coaches announced the 2024 High School All-Americans with Lenhard’s name included on the list.
“To get that recognition feels amazing,” she said by phone. “I’ve always watched. I’ve always seen really talented players get it, but I didn’t even think it was a possibility.”
It’s a fitting bookend to a career that consists of five sectional championships, three regional titles and one state crown.
She becomes the fourth student-athlete from Spencerport Girls’ Soccer to receive the honor.
“It’s crazy,” she said. “It’s unheard of, the amount of All-Americans that we’ve had in the last few years. It’s insane to think about. To be able to put myself on that list next to those players is really exciting.”
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A role player as an eighth-grader, Lenhard admitted “I didn’t really know what I was playing for.”
By the time she was a sophomore, she accepted the challenge of shouldering the scoring load after the graduations of Lily Brongo (10 goals), Bre DeHond (27 goals) and Alyssa Hackett (15 goals) following the 2021 season.
The UNC-Wilmington commit more than doubled her scoring output in 2022 going from 7 goals to 20 in helping the Rangers to the state semifinals.
“She’s done really well becoming a versatile player as far as goals and assists, making other good plays, but she’s turned into a good goal scorer,” said Spencerport head coach Jamie Schneider. “That wasn’t really her strong point. She’s developed into a good goal scorer.”
A two-time All-East Region performer, Lenhard found the back of the net on 27 occasions in 2023 to lead a Spencerport squad that went unbeaten and claimed the NYS Class AA championship.
This season, she again topped the Rangers with 29 goals. Her 28 assists, though, led all of Section V.
It was Lenhard who set up teammate Julia Maloney with the game winner in the final minute of the Section V Class AA final.
“The thing that sets her apart is being a really good playmaker,” Schneider said. “She’s very smart when it comes to knowing where her teammates are and knowing how to find them in goal-scoring opportunities.”
Just as valuable as the goals and assists has been her influence on teammates. During Lenhard’s five seasons on varsity, the Rangers compiled a record 90 wins 2 losses and 7 ties.
To put that in perspective, just eight Section V Girls’ Soccer teams had two or fewer losses this past season. With Lenhard in Blue and Gold, the Rangers lost two games over the course of five campaigns.
“Being around other leaders definitely has been a key to having that success and winning year after year,” Schneider said. “She’s learned a lot obviously as a player, but also as a leader, a competitor. She’s very driven to win championships.”
Lenhard joins former Rangers Brittany Kinmond (2009), Leah Wengender (2018) and Kendall Mesh (2023) who have also garnered the distinction.
“To have All-Americans, your team has to accomplish some very special things and we have,” Schneider said. “As we often say in the program, the individual stuff will take care of itself. We have to compete, win championships consistently and the individual awards will follow.”
In a program that has set a record with nine consecutive Section V titles, Lenhard stands above the rest. She is the only Ranger in the girls’ soccer program to have played on five different sectional championship teams.
“The five different teams brought five different dynamics, five different ways Coach Schneider led us and taught us the game,” she said. “I will miss that aspect of high school soccer that not a lot of people get, but I had it because I went to Spencerport and grew up in this town where soccer is pretty much everything. That will be what I miss. That and the culture that Coach Schneider has built.”
Kate Crowley (Pittsford Mendon) and Mia Gray (Byron-Bergen) joined Lenhard on the All-East Region team.
Both of Lindsay’s parents and her aunt had memorable high school careers. Her mother, Julie Listrani Lenhard and aunt, Paula Listrani Starwald starred for Greece Athena soccer and then at the Univ at Buffalo. Lindsay’s father, Jake Lenhard was a starting guard on the 1991-92 Greece Athena state champion basketball team. Her brother Jacob is now playing D1 soccer at Stetson Univ. In Deland, FL.
While Lindsay has physical talent, she has become a valuable asset on every team for which she has played by virtue of her work ethic, desire to learn the game she loves, determination to not give up, and unselfish willingness to deliver the ball to whoever on the field could make a play.
It has been a singular privilege to watch that little body of hers take on two or three defenders every time she touched the ball, fight through and either shoot or get it to a teammate who had a better shot, or put up consistently great corner kicks. She has given us a highlight reel of memories and she probably isn’t done yet!