PHILIPPI, WVa (WBOY) – It’s hard not to stand out as a member of the Philip Barbour girls soccer team.
With three straight trips to the state tournament, the Colts are in the business of making history with a championship, but one individual player has already made some history of her own.
Senior forward Braylyn Sparks etched her name into the history books last week, scoring her 100th career goal, and becoming just the second player in school history to do so, as part of a four-goal night against Preston.
“It was very relieving because that was my goal for the season, to get to 100, and I felt really relieved, and I wanted to thank everyone that helped with it because I couldn’t have done it without my teammates or my coaches. They were really feeding me the ball obviously,” she said.
One of the key aspects of Sparks’ scoring prowess is the dynamic she’s developed with her twin sister Arrington.
The Sparks twins share attacking duties for the Colts and the “A to B Connection” has produced plenty of assists for Arrington and a big chunk of Braylyn’s goals.
“She’s had probably at least 50 of my 100 goals,” Sparks said, “We look for each other out there. We play on the same side. I’m sure everyone knows that by now. We work well together. We’ve been playing together since we were really little.”
Now that her biggest individual goal for the season is behind her, Sparks has one focus going forward that she shares with her teammates.
Philip Barbour wants a state championship.
“The focus now is looking to connect and play well, kind of just preparing ourselves to play in that final game and we’ve been up there three times, two times in the final so hopefully senior year we can bring back the state title,” she said.
The quest for Braylyn Sparks and her Colts teammates to bring home a state title begins on October 16 with the start of high school soccer sectionals.