Lions Club Names Molly Broderick Athlete of the Month

By Mitch Silver

This month’s Lions Club award winner, the first of the school year, plays on the Garnet eleven that defeated Harrison in an epic tussle this past weekend. No, not a football player…the award goes to Molly Broderick, senior captain and center back of the Section’s second-ranked soccer squad.

Last season, Molly was League Player of the Year and named All Section for the second year running. The New York State Sportswriters Association voted her to the All State third team. This year, Molly and the defense she anchors are even better, helping lead the Garnets to a 10-1-1 record.

Head Coach Rich Savage nominated her for the Lions Club honor: “With three freshmen and three sophomore starters, Molly provides the kind of positive leadership that holds a team together. She is a hard-working person who demands the best not only from herself, but also all of her teammates. Whenever there is pressure on our back line, Molly is calm, cool, and composed. She’s spectacular at breaking up a play and distributing the ball to change the angle of attack.

“She is the core of a defense that permitted only two goals in the opening month of play, one off a direct kick and the other an own goal. In other words, opponents were 0 for September in the run of play against Molly’s defense.”

And that’s just the fall season. In the spring she’ll return to the Garnets’ lacrosse team, for whom she’s been an All League performer. Next fall, Molly will play both sports for a Division III school where she’s already been accepted.

The Lions Club awards go to the Rye High student who exemplifies excellence on the athletic fields, in the classroom, and also in serving the community. Molly has been named Student of the Quarter in English, History, and Spanish. She’s taken college-level courses in World and U.S. History, Literature, Psychology, and Art History.

“Right now, I’m on an Art History jag,” she said. “My teacher, Sarah Charles, has had us looking at and seeing art in new ways. If you set me down in Manhattan, I’d probably go straight to the Museum of Modern Art.”

In her spare time, Molly is a facilitator for the One Love Foundation, raising more than $4,000 while helping to educate young people on the difference between healthy and harmful relationships.

By winning the first monthly award of the school year, Molly already has a seat at the Lions’ dinner next June at The Osborn, when Rye’s Player of the Year will be announced.