Staff file photo by TOM KING Emily Lizotte has been ahead of the field throughout her four girls soccer seasons at Alvirne High School as the Broncos' leading scorer.

It was a strange sight at week ago at Stellos Stadium.

Clearly, Emily Lizotte was out of place on the Alvirne High School girls soccer bench, as she sat watching the Broncos tie Bishop Guertin 1-1.

“I know,” she said with a grin. “It’s a tough one.”

Lizotte, the Broncos leading scorer the last three seasons – and one of the top scorers in Division I overall – clearly belongs on the field, which the team hopes will happen soon as she is recovering from a leg injury suffered some 10 days ago.

It’s no surprise she’s been starting for the Broncos the last four seasons, the go-to player when the team needs scoring. She’s a natural striker, not an easy position in a sport in which goals are at a premium.

“No it’s not,” Lizotte said. “But with a good team, and people surrounding me, it makes it a lot easier, also in getting the ball to my teammates. It’s not just me, I’ve got other people around me who can put the ball in the net as well as I can.

“It’s really not about me. It’s not about what I can do with the ball before putting it in the net. It’s about what they can do, and get it to me, so I can take a shot and let it go and hopefully it’ll go in the net.”

And it’s a powerful shot.

“She has an uncanny knack since her early years to score goals,” said Alvirne interim coach and the school’s principal, Steve Beals. “She uses her body well to shield defenders, and has always had good field vision.”

Lizotte says there’s not a lot of pressure on her, even though teams know she’s the main Bronco they need to stop.

“I would like to score for myself,” Lizotte said. “I don’t feel the pressure for my team because there’s other girls who can score. In tough situations it might be a little bit different, if I know we need to get a goal, there’s a little bit of pressure there.”

But otherwise, Lizotte, with her maturity, just keeps pushing. Even as, through four years, her teammates and coaches have constantly changed.

“It’s definitely who I’m playing with and the coaches,” she said. “It’s about who I’m surrounded with, who’s coaching me, who’s playing next to me. It’s definitely different, we’re losing girls and gaining girls every year.”

Of course, if you’ve been playing soccer as long as Lizotte, your teammates are countless.

“It’s been a long time,” said Lizotte, who is headed to Franklin Pierce University next fall to compete at the Division II level. She said when she was younger there were a couple of other sports she was interested in, but eventually asked her parents if she could play soccer. She got the thumbs up, “and I just stuck with it.”

She’s also played for various club teams over the years, currently at the Global Premiere Soccer teams out of Bedford. Previously she had played club soccer in Massachusetts.

She got her start at Hudson United, and then when the game became more serious and she knew she wanted to play in college, she moved on.

At the end of her sophomore year, Lizotte first heard from Franklin Pierce. Then there wasn’t much contact.

“I was kind of confused about the whole recruiting process,” she said. “I kind of waited for them when I shouldn’t have, and then things got going with them in the winter of last year. Then an offere came in May. And I committed in August.”

She had a couple of Division III and other Division II schools interested as well. “I knew I definitely I wanted to go D-II or D-I if I could,” Lizotte said. “But I felt that with a D-II school, there wasn’t so much of a commitment of soccer so I could focus on academics and my studies, because that’s what’s going to matter after college. That’s kind of what it was for me.”

She called FP’s program “insane” as they were recently nationally ranked. “I know they’re very competitive in that conference (Northeast-10),” she said.

What’s it going to be like adjusting to the college game?

“I honestly don’t know,” she said, as her eyes beamed. “I’m kind of nervous.”

Lizotte said the Ravens coaches have talked about her keeping her role up front as a striker. Beals said strength will be a key for her at the college level.

“To be successful at the next level, Emily will need to improve her fitness level,” he said, “and (avoid) lower body injuries as soccer demands great leg and core strength.”

Lizotte is thinking about studying criminal justice in college, but she’s not absolutely sure. As Beals noted, she’s part of a marketing program in the school and will complete Alvirne’s CTE Marketing program.

“She has been dedicated in our school store for the past two years,” Beals said.

She wants more wins to close out her high school career as the Broncos go into their next game Thursday at home vs. Merrimack at 2-5-1 in Division I. Three of those losses were by one goal, one by two.

“We’ve been losing by one, winning by one,” she said. “We have to put more balls in the net, obviously.”

That’s where a healthy Lizotte comes in.

“We all hope that Emily comes back healthy soon to help our team score goals,” Beals said. “We also count on her leadership.”

Lizotte says it’s been hard to play for as many coaches in her four years. The Broncos had two resign in a week’s span in the pre-season, so Beals took over. That’s why her leadership has been important.

“As a captain of this team, I have to set an example,” she said. “I have to be the first one to say, ‘All right, we have to figure everything out.’ I had to make sure everybody had a positive mindset and just kept going.”

Which Beals certainly appreciated.

“She is very reflective and mature as a student and athlete,” Beals said, “and has created both as goals for herself.”

And those goals are even more important than the ones Lizotte scores on the field.

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