Princeton’s Lis is our CVC and Area Player of the Year
Sophia Lis had moments during her Princeton High girls soccer career where she wasn’t sure if she would even be able to take the pitch let alone produce a record-breaking season for the ages.
Both in-from and healthy for her senior campaign, Lis put on a show not seen in the Colonial Valley Conference for nearly 40 years.
The forward scored 38 goals — the highest single season total by a CVC player since 1982 — added 21 assists for a league-high 97 points and led the line as Tigers recorded their best season in program history.
Lis is our our CVC and Area Player of the Year.
“She’s genuinely my idol,” said senior teammate and best friend Megan Rougas. “You’ll see four girls on her and then you blink and she has the ball going to goal. She’s amazing and I’m so happy that I was able to have these four years with her.”
Lis arrived on the high school scene with 13 goals as a freshman, but missed her entire sophomore year with a torn ACL before bouncing back with 13 in the COVID-abbreviated 2020 season.
The Lehigh Universitybound star’s senior season was the true breakout.
“I felt like last year I was under a lot of pressure after my injury to return,” Lis said. “It was like, ‘Oh, is she going to come back the same? Will I still be able to score?’ Now I know that mentally I’m in a better place and physically I’m in a much better place. It’s time to have fun with it.”
The answer to those question: A resounding yes.
At 6-foot-1, Lis proved to be one of the toughest players to defend against in the state. She’s quick and her long strides let her glide past opponents. She often drifted out to the left touchline to receive the ball and then cut in with her right foot to unleash a shot.
If you tried to man-mark her, she unbalanced your team by moving around the field, and if you played her straight up, you almost certainly were going to be picking the ball out of your own net.
“Sophia is something special,” coach Dave Kosa said. “She has the great ability to raise her game.”
Lis scored nine times in six playoff games during Princeton’s run to a first ever appearance in the Group III state final. Although the Tigers finished as runner-up, their 21 victories set a new program.
Lis is joined on the CVC First Team by Rougas, senior
Annie Kosa and sophomore Casey Serxner, while Kosa is the CVC and Area Coach of the Year.
“We’ve won a lot of games before, but we never had such consecutive wins,” Lis said. “We were really dominating at the beginning of the season, and I just thought let’s keep this up and see what we can do with it. There wasn’t a point where I was like we are going to make it super far (to the state final), but I knew we could work hard and go far.”
Lis grew up watching Princeton High sports from the sideline as her older sisters Taylor and Devon — both also Division
I athletes; Taylor played lacrosse at Cornell and Devon just completed her senior soccer season at Georgetown — starred for their respective teams.
“I feel like it’s a really great moment that I can even be out here after watching my sisters play and learning about the game,” Lis said. “It’s been such a fun experience.”
Her senior year will go down as one of the best in school history.
“Out-do them,” Lis said with a laugh. “Obviously, we’re so competitive at the house and outside the home. It was more about proving it to myself and knowing I could do it.”