Ryan, Dike lead the pack
Norman North’s Yazmeen Ryan and Edmond North’s Daryl Dike are the Girls and Boys AllCity Soccer Players of the Year.
Before every match this season, the Norman North’s girls soccer team dawned shirts that read “Forever Young.”
The shirts served as a constant reminder for senior Yazmeen Ryan, who emerged as one of the state’s best scorers, and the rest of the club of former Norman North coach and principal Bryan Young, who died in a February double-homicide.
Ryan, The Oklahoman’s All-City girls soccer player of the year, dedicated her senior season to Young, who made a significant impact on her career.
“As a player, I have some attitude. Times where I don’t really work as hard as I should,” Ryan said. “I feel like when Bryan came in, he really saw something in me and brought that out there to where I could see it myself. The way he saw me, it was really motivational for me to work hard no matter what.
“Every time he said my name, he’d have the biggest smile. He had a really big impact on my career.”
The Norman North forward broke down when she first heard the news of Young’s death, but her immediate thought was to call Norman North coach Don Rother.
“The first thing that I thought was to call Don,” said Ryan, “because I knew how much they meant to each other, just to tell him how sorry I was.”
What happened next was a special season for the Timberwolves.
Norman North didn’t have as many seniors as usual, so more pressure fell on the TCU signee fromto-time.
Ryan stepped up as one of the team’s captains and scored 38 goals, which is tied for the most goals scored in a single season at Norman North and surpassed her own expectations for her senior year.
The forward’s knack for scoring helped Norman North make a run at the 6A state championship, where they met Tulsa Union in the title match.
Union beat Norman North 2-0, but the season was nonetheless special for Ryan and her club.
“The season really meant a lot. Our girls, the younger girls, really looked up to us seniors,” Ryan said. “… they knew how much it meant for us to play good, especially for Bryan with everything happening there. It just kind-of got more and more personal.
“For all of us to come together, we really got close throughout the season, so it was so really special.”