New York’s career goals record holder looks to make major impact at Ohio State
MARION, N.Y. (BVM) — If you look through the NYSPHSAA girls soccer record book, Chloe DeLyser’s name is going to be at the top of the list for scoring. DeLyser has had a storied career at Marion High School, achieving some of the state’s and nation’s top records.
The Black Knights’ star goal-scorer has been playing on the high school varsity girls soccer team since seventh grade. In her first season on the varsity team, DeLyser scored 29 goals and had 20 assists.
“I think technically, I knew I could play at that level,” Chloe DeLyser said. “It was more my strength and my size that had me concerned. I’ve never been super tall, but I became stronger as I got older. I was this tiny little seventh grader, that’s probably what had me the most scared, but I knew mentally I had the strength to do it.”
Chloe DeLyser’s varsity coach and cousin, Lori DeLyser, had watched Chloe growing up, so she wasn’t surprised by the impact that Chloe made early on, especially because of her work ethic.
“I watched her play when she was younger in elementary school,” Lori said. “She would play with the boys and she would be pretty dominant with them. I had my eye on her at an early age. When she was a seventh grader she played on the varsity soccer team and was very competitive at her age for that level.
Her work ethic is like no other player that I ever coached. She loves the game of soccer and she plays it to the best of her ability, whether it’s practice or a game. There’s times where she’s driving to Buffalo (to play with her club team) three to four times a week and it’s an hour and 40 minutes away and that’s during the school year. She’s very dedicated to the game, very committed to the game, and she just loves to play it.”
Over Chloe’s career, things on the field may have looked easy to everyone else, but her leadership was something that she had to grow into.
“My leadership during varsity definitely grew,” Chloe said. “I had been on so long that I felt like I was more relatable to the players and from being the only one that pretty much plays Premier (Soccer League), I was someone that everyone could look up to. So my leadership and my overall ability with the ball, vision, improved every year.”
The Marion senior built up quite the resume over her six years playing at the varsity level. During her time with the Black Knights, Chloe scored a whopping 336 goals and had 155 assists, both records in the state of New York. In her junior season, Chloe broke the single season goal record by finding the back of the net 79 times. She followed that up in her senior season with 76 goals.
Much anticipation went into Chloe’s senior season. It was believed that she was coming up on the national record of career goals scored. With that in mind for the people around her, Chloe tried her best to block it out.
“It was definitely in the back of my mind, but I think it was more in the back of the minds of my coaches than it was me,” Chloe said. “I was just trying to enjoy my senior season. That was a goal, but I had other goals on my mind during the season.”
“One of Chloe’s famous quotes was that she never really counted her goals, she just scored them,” Lori said. “She left that up to the coaching staff. She just took it one goal at a time and one game at a time, and went from there.”
When Chloe scored her 317th goal against Gananda High School, her teammates rushed to congratulate her on the record. The ruling on the national record would later turn out to be a learning lesson for many, as the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) declared that it would not recognize her scoring total as the new record. The NFHS would reach out to the New York State Athletic Association to provide the explanation that under their rule, the record would only count the years from grades 9-12.
The moment however, was still special for everyone who had been a part of Chloe’s journey to the accomplishment.
“It was an awesome moment, especially having my little sister assist me,” Chloe said. “There was a lot of relief because there was so much pressure on me the couple weeks leading up to that. It just felt like, finally all my hard work is finally paid off and it’s just fun from here, just keep on winning. My mindset was, yes this is accomplished, but state is next.”
Leaving behind a record-setting legacy at Marion, Chloe is ready for the next level. With so many individual successes to look back on, her wins as a team – including state sectionals – are at the top of her memories.
“When we won sectionals, we came back from like 2-0 down, and came back and I just remember I was having an interview and the [interviewer] said, ‘you can’t keep a smile off your face’, I was like ‘no, this is probably one of the best moments ever’,” Chloe said.
Chloe will start her collegiate career at Ohio State University this fall, where she hopes to have a similar impact with the Buckeyes women’s soccer program.
“The thing with Chloe, every year we would sit down before the season and discuss what her goals are and I think she will continue that in college,” Lori said. “She’s very driven, so she’ll have goals and she’s the type of kid that will reach for them and obtain them. I know that one of her goals is to play professionally so I really hope that happens for her.”
