South Carolina commit Shae O’Rourke caps off historic St. Mary’s career
LANCASTER, N.Y. (BVM) — It’s easy to look at a Lancers’ box score and see the impact that Shae O’Rourke has had throughout her time at the high school level. But St. Mary’s girls soccer coach Brittany Heist can sum up the senior’s importance in just a few words.
“She’s a program changer,” Heist says.
The program’s all-time scoring leader has broken a handful of records in St. Mary’s history, capping off her senior season with a total of 322 career points. The star center forward has also racked up a list of accomplishments that include USA Today’s New York State Female Athlete of the Year and Gatorade New York’s Girls Soccer Player of the Year.
But with the individual success, her Lancers’ coach spotlights the impact that O’Rourke has had off the field. After teammate Gabby Gambino went down with an injury prior to last season, O’Rourke would have to handle missing one of the team’s key pieces in a COVID shortened season.
“She’s a very humble individual,” Heist said. “Ever since her freshman season, she’s put up awesome stats. She’s kind of become a terror in the Western New York soccer high school market. [But] it’s not even how she plays on the field, it’s how she connects as she’s gotten older.
“As a senior, [she’s really] tied all the strings together making sure she left a stamp on what the training environment should look like, what the pregame and locker room environment should look like and just the way she makes player one to player 21 feel, whether they are playing or not. She does a really good job and is very unique in the way that she handles all the friendships with her teammates.”
The transformation to becoming a leader has been something that O’Rourke has had to focus on. It’s probably the biggest growth point she believes she’s had since her start at the school.
“I came in just wanting to join the team and be an outstanding freshman, and I think what really changed was my leadership,” O’Rourke said. “I became a captain junior year so another step in my game was trying to not only be the best player I could be, but also the best leader. That was one of the biggest changes for me because, not only did I want to lead on the field but I wanted to [be a] leader off the field.”
With her evolution, O’Rourke has become one of the most complete players at the high school level. In her four seasons at St. Mary’s, O’Rourke has amassed 137 career goals, breaking the school’s record for most in a season as she topped 40 in her freshman campaign. She would go on to follow up her breakout performance with 36 goals as a sophomore and 39 goals as a junior.
In her senior season, the Lancers’ forward would unfortunately miss a third of the season with an ankle injury. Even after missing eight games, O’Rourke was able to leave her mark on the year, coming back just in time for Monsignor Martin playoffs. The senior found her groove quickly, helping lead the Lancers to a championship win over Nichols behind her hat trick.
“It was difficult because I would play and then it would hurt again and I was just very aggravated with it,” O’Rourke said. “But in the end, my team stuck it through and they got us to a really good place and then when I was able to play in the playoffs, everything just settled into place [and] we won a Monsignor Martin playoff so that was really big for our team. They did their job and it was exciting to play with them in the championship and win it.”
The return was a special one for O’Rourke who enjoyed the chance to get back out there with her teammates. Throughout her time at St. Mary’s, a list of moments have added up and as her coach put it, there’s too many to just pick one. But for O’Rourke, one specific memory comes to her mind first.
“Last year, I got my 100th goal in a playoff game,” O’Rourke said. “So, that was really exciting and what made it such a surreal moment was my team was actually more [excited] for me than I was. Everyone just ran up to me and it was just the best moment I’ve ever had I think.”
As O’Rourke closes the chapter on her career at St. Mary’s, she will continue to fuel her passion for the game as she enters the next level. The Lancers’ senior signed her National Letter of Intent this month and is looking forward to her next opportunity at the University of South Carolina.
“I never thought I would go all the way down to the South but as I got on campus, I just immediately knew that it was the place for me,” O’Rourke said. “Not only is it such an amazing campus, it’s in the south, beautiful weather, but what really gravitated me towards South Carolina was the coaches… they’re just super friendly people and not only do they want to win soccer games, they want to have fun with it.”
Her St. Mary’s team will have two other seniors playing at the Division I level next season as Gabby Gambino heads to Clemson and Charlie Pawli heads to UAlbany.
“I’m going to miss Coach Brittany Heist and all the girls because at St. Mary’s, we just have such a good bond and not a lot of schools get that,” O’Rourke said. “We were a good team so having both of those [elements] is going to be sad to leave. But, super exciting to see what all the girls can do and what all the seniors will go off and do as well.”
