Riley Carr has a noble ambition. She wants to be the person folks can’t wait to see despite the profession she is in.
“Nobody likes the dentist,” the Notre Dame High senior said. “That’s what made me want to become one. I hated the dentist, so I want to be one that everyone likes.”
She has a nice head start in the likability factor. No need to floss out any detractors.
“Everybody loves her, it really is amazing,” Irish girls lacrosse coach Bryan Fisher said. “She’s got a good charm to her.”
The Hamilton resident has charmed her way into a variety of organizations, starting with being named Miss St. Patrick’s Day by the Hamilton Hibernians for their annual parade. She is president of the Notre Dame student government and a member of numerous school clubs, including Peer Leadership, Morgan’s Message, Joey’s Little Angels, Honor Service Religion and Catholic Athletes for Christ. She has a 92 grade point average out of 100.
“Obviously she’s like, president of everything at Notre Dame and she’s also Miss St. Patrick’s Day,” Fisher said. “But she’s been Miss Goalie for us, dude.”
It’s just the latest footage amidst the Hamilton resident’s highlight reel senior year. A soccer player at heart who came up through the Hibernians and started for ND’s varsity, Carr took over as starting goalie after learning the position as a junior.
After playing in bits of three games and making three saves last year, Carr stood tall this season with 127 saves through 20 games for the Colonial Valley Conference Tournament finalist. She helped the Irish improve from 12-8 in 2023 to 17-3 heading into this year’s state tournament.
“It’s definitely been amazing,” Carr said. “I play alongside my two best friends (senior Grace Koziol and sophomore Fallon Parker, both defenders). I always wanted to be on the field having fun with all my friends and winning just came along with it. We all worked so well together. Grace and Fallon really helped me out, especially since it’s my first year starting. They’ve worked me in.”
And it’s working out better than the Irish could have hoped.
“A lot of our record is because we have some great kids,” Fisher said. “But her stepping into this role and excelling has really helped us get to another level.”
It’s an area that Carr never thought she would enter four years ago. Following in the footsteps of big sister Ryan, a lifetime soccer player who started lacrosse in ninth grade, Carr gave it a try her freshman year.
Discovering that she was “pretty decent at it” and that most of her friends played, Riley felt it was a good way to stay in shape for soccer. After playing defense for the freshman and JV teams, Carr was asked by Fisher to play goalie in the winter league as a sophomore.
When the team regathered in spring of her junior year, Carr was asked to be the back-up goalie to Margaret Ritson.
“I was like, ‘I don’t know how good I would be,’” she recalled. “I was kind of surprised, why would he pick me out of everyone? I figured ‘Hey it’s something new, I’ll try it.’”
Carr’s confidence stemmed from being part of an athletic family. Along with Ryan’s background, her sister Amanda Rossi played basketball for Hamilton West and rugby at the University of Pittsburgh. Her mom, Debbie, played high school and college soccer and coaches Notre Dame and the Hibernians, and her dad, Tom, is a football and basketball official well known for watching sports on TV and having a FanDuel account.
“She’s a good athlete,” Fisher said, adding with a chuckle: “Obviously she gets it from her mom, not her dad.”
Riley was anything but a sure bet on FanDuel entering the season, of course. At the start, she wondered what she got herself into.
“Especially when they’re right in the crease and shooting at you,” Carr said. “At practice, I’d get hit with the ball and hit with the ball, and I’m like, ‘What the heck?’”
Notre Dame played a strong preseason scrimmage schedule that helped the goalie get baptism under fire. The Irish won their first four regular-season games with Carr allowing 12 goals while making 14 saves.
“The scrimmages got my nerves out,” she said. “We played a lot of Division I commits and I was saving their shots. I thought if I could beat a Division I commit’s shot, I can save any shot. That really changed my mindset. In our first game we won by a lot and I got my nerves out and thought ‘Yeah, I could do this for the season.’
“They could score 19 on you, but you could still be having a really good game. It’s a high-scoring game compared to soccer, which I played all my life. You have to understand that.”
Fisher was happy to see Carr’s understanding of that, knowing that the Irish were pinning their hopes on a raw goalie.
“She’s kept her composure, she plays to who she is and she knows who she is,” the coach said. “In girls’ lacrosse, goals are gonna happen. For her, just understanding goals are gonna be scored and knowing how to respond to the next shot is big. She’s found a way to really focus herself in the net.”
Carr credits Irish goalie coach Bob Henderson for helping her improve.
“It was a little hectic not knowing what I was doing, and coach Bob taught me how to do it rather than just be a body that stands in there and looks good,” she said. “He taught me to do it right, move my feet and watch the ball.”
Fisher felt that Riley’s dedication to getting better and her emergence at the position has given the Irish team a confidence boost. They know she will fight for them.
“She’s got quick reflexes and she’s not afraid of the ball,” the coach said. “You have people shooting the ball at you, 60, 70 miles an hour and it’s not a Nerf Ball. She’s not afraid to put her body in front of it.”
All that crawling in the dirt couldn’t detract from Carr’s glamour on the float during Hamilton’s St. Paddy’s Day parade. The queen waved to the crowd, with many of them calling out her name.
“It was a crazy experience,” said Carr, who waits tables at the Hibos on weekends. “I don’t even have words to describe it. It was insane. I was so excited to be more involved in the community…Seeing all the people supporting me is something I’ll never forget.”
She’s got another unforgettable Irish experience looming as Carr won the Hibo’s Billy Briggs Scholarship that sends her to Ireland this summer. She will land in Dublin and head north to the charming town of Donegal to learn about Irish heritage and its Gaelic language.
In looking back on her four-year Notre Dame career as the girl who everyone knew, Carr has great appreciation.
“It’s been crazy but also exciting,” she said. “I had so many events to go to and I enjoyed them all. I just hope I can inspire others and show them how to be involved in this community and how far it can actually get you.”
Carr’s next stop (after Donegal) is to Seton Hall, where she will take biology courses for a year before entering the dental program as a sophomore. She will then attempt to do the impossible: be the dentist that everyone wants to see.
If Carr’s recent history has taught us anything, she may just pull it off.
Riley Carr made 127 saves through 20 games for Notre Dame lacrosse in 2025. (Photo courtesy of Notre Dame High School.),
