Olivia Ingenito sets Miller Place single-season, career goal records

One goal. Two records.

Olivia Ingenito broke the Miller Place girls soccer single-season and career varsity scoring records on the last of her four goals in a 6-0 win over East Hampton on Sept. 24. The sophomore’s final goal of the game was her 21st of the season and the 42nd of her varsity tenure —both school records, according to head coach Tom Veryzer.

To make matters even more impressive, Ingenito only needed seven games this season, and less than three seasons overall, to break the two marks.

“Honestly, I didn’t think I would accomplish records this early on as a 10th grader,” Ingenito said. “I thought it would take some time, but it’s really cool that I could accomplish these things this early.”

Early is a common theme for Ingentino. She played her first varsity game as an eighth-grader, midway through the season.

“You could recognize that she was a goal-scorer back then, just with her offensive approach and the way she attacked the goal," Veryzer said. "The first few games, players want to find their place on the team and she did that pretty quickly.”

Ingenito said she was surprised when the coach told her he wanted her to play for the varsity team at such a young age.

“At first, I was very nervous, but my team started to help me figure out myself on the field,” Ingenito said. “After the first half, I thought to myself, “Oh I’m fine.”

She’s only improved from there. Ingenito had six goals as an eighth-grader and 15 goals last year.

“She’s dynamic and she can create a goal out of something that may not look like it’s going to be dangerous,” Veryzer said. “She can create something out of nothing.”

Ingenito has displayed that nose for the goal throughout the fall. She has scored in seven of the team’s first nine games, totaling 21 goals and four assists. She has scored at least three goals in four contests.

After scoring her 21st goal of the year, Ingenito was aware she broke the single-season record. But it wasn’t until a call from her coach later in the evening that she realized she also broke the varsity scoring record.

“I was like, ‘No way,’ and like, ‘Wait, did I just do that?,” Ingenito said of her reaction to the call from Veryzer. “I was really excited. That really surprised me. I was seven games in and I didn’t think that would be possible for myself, to be honest. But with the help of my team, that really helped me to set this record”

Ingenito surpassed Kayla Ceschini’s mark of 20 goals in 2011 for the single-season record. Annie Kaplan had the previous career record with 41 goals, Veryzer said. And with Ingenito still in the midst of her sophomore season, she could have even more records on the horizon.

“I think her future can be fantastic, especially if she keeps improving at the rate that she has,” Veryzer said. “She can continue to hopefully score many more goals and create a record of her own that’s going to be tough for other players to reach.”