They come to Mike Hastings in the form of questions but they are actually the highest form of compliments for Lynzie Morgan.
“When true soccer people watch us play, they look at her and go ‘What are you gonna do without her?’” the Steinert girls’ soccer coach said. “Right away they can see how good she is.”
Morgan’s reaction is predictable when told of that.
“I get the chills,” the senior center-midfielder said. “That makes me feel amazing. From being on this team for four years, I don’t even know what I’m gonna do sometimes. But that’s just such a good feeling knowing that people understand your hard work and what you look to do.”
Morgan looks to make Steinert run on all cylinders. She is referred to by Hastings as “the engine in the middle that makes everything go.” The coach is not looking forward to getting an engine replacement.
“I’ll be crying next year when she’s gone,” he said in a recent interview. “She’s invaluable because she does so much on the field.”
For Morgan, however, it doesn’t feel like responsibility. It’s more an issue of fulfilling a passion.
“Soccer is that thing where you get away from everything; it’s an escape from reality,” she said. “You go out there and forget about everything and focus on that particular time. You gain friendships. From the start, it was good.”
Morgan is part a senior class that includes Yale-bound Gianna Pittaro and Michaela Miranda. The three have been together since age 7 when they began playing with Steinert assistant Lisa Pittaro’s Hamilton Wildcats program. Morgan and Pittaro have been varsity starters since their freshman seasons, which was also Hastings first year.
“It was the best feeling starting as a freshman,” Morgan said. “Me and G together, we’ve been through everything. Me, G and Hastings came into this together, so coming this far is super cool. But as a freshman, just being on varsity in general I was so lucky just to be part of the team.”
Luck had nothing to do with it. Morgan made the team because she is fearless, gutsy, scrappy, intelligent and, oh yeah, pretty talented. Lynzie played basketball her first two years of high school but gave it up to focus on soccer. She had two goals and an assist as a freshman, four and two as a sophomore and three and five last year.
Those first two seasons featured some growing pains with an overall record of 17-15-3 – which is great at some places but not what’s expected at Steinert. Last year things blossomed as the Spartans went 19-3, but did not win any titles.
“Hastings always stressed that our time would come, and this is our time,” Morgan stated. “This team has so much potential. We had a super good season last year but didn’t get any result we wanted, and that’s the motivation to get what we want this year. We have that motivation to be successful.”
The Spartans won three of their first four games and Morgan had just one goal during that time. But her value goes well beyond the stat sheet. When Hastings saw her as a freshman, her work rate immediately jumped out at him. Despite standing 5-foot-3, she won 50-50 balls, made runs, got back on defense and was basically a whirling dervish between the 18-yard lines.
“She’s a workhorse man,” Hastings said. “She’s the hardest worker on the team. She’s always pushing, she’s always working hard. When everybody else may be tired or cranky on a Saturday morning, she’s still going 90 miles an hour. She’s been fun to watch. She’s really an attribute. A kid who knows how to play, knows how to work hard and is a really good teammate.”
During her first two varsity seasons, Morgan paid attention to the veterans and watched what they did. She always knew the importance of grinding it out throughout a game, but also learned the necessity of team chemistry. As a center-mid, Lynzie knows she is responsible for pulling things together.
“It’s seeing the whole field,” she replied, when asked how one becomes an engine. “Getting the ball from one side, playing it to the opposite. Just getting in the attack and seeing passes nobody else sees. Finding the through ball, finding that extra look to see that pass that will get that goal.”
Morgan feels her vision comes naturally, much like the game itself.
“My body tells me where to go. I just know where to go,” she said. “Even in basketball I had to think; but in soccer it just comes natural.”
Having instincts and talent is one thing. But that hard-nosed attitude is an added attribute that makes Morgan that much better.
“She’s real tough,” Hastings said. “Tough mentally, tough physically. She just goes, goes, goes. My old club coach said you need that guy like a hockey, who’s going to win the puck on the boards. Nobody really wants to do that work but you gotta have somebody to do it.”
Morgan does it, despite her diminutive size. Asked if she was ever tall and then stopped growing, Lynzie said, “Never. I was always small. But my quickness, my footwork, everything helps to get that extra step.”
But what about the toughness?
“It’s honestly just motivation,” Morgan said. “It’s whoever wants it more. I know I’m short, but you can’t be (scared), especially in the middle winning 50 50 balls. That’s one of the biggest things in the game.”
The best thing about Morgan’s aggressiveness is that it permeates throughout the Spartans. Teammate Emily Gulsby agrees with Hastings that Lynzie sets the tone.
Gulsby said the team would be completely different without Morgan. “She’s one of my best friends, I love playing with her,” she said. “Every time she steps on the field she gives 110 percent. I think everyone else on the field really feeds off her play.”
Morgan will take that attitude to Rowan next year, walking in the footsteps of Steinert grads Jess Babice, Christie Fink and Chelsea Pitonyak, and joining a Profs program that currently features former Spartans Darah Wagner, Aidan Sheehan (Morgan’s cousin) and Arianna Durling.
“I had other schools looking at me but I just went for a visit and they offered me a spot and I took it” Morgan said. “Honestly it’s weird. I’ve always had an urge to go there. My older sister goes there. Their team is very good. I visited there, I fit, and the coach wanted me so it was a really good feeling since I was always looking at Rowan. It just fit.”
So, it’s a happy ending for all involved. Except Hastings, who will need some tissues to blot the tears from his eyes when Morgan is gone.
Lynzie Morgan dribbling in a 5-0 win away at Ewing on Sept. 11, 2017. (Photo by Suzette J. Lucas.),
