Midfielder Lex Cox has been one of the driving forces behind the Rye boys soccer team’s second-straight section championship and run to this weekend’s state semifinals. Fittingly, Rye High School’s athletic department and the Rye Lions Club tabbed the senior captain as their October athlete of the month.
“Lex is a truly unique player in Section 1 boys’ soccer,” said Rye coach Jared Small. “His combination of height (6-foot-3), speed, technical ability, and athleticism is rare at this level.
“Lex has been willing to do whatever is asked of him to help the team win. In some games, that means that we use him as a primary option in our attack. In others, he slots into a center back role. That versatility — as well as that willingness to adjust his expectations of himself in any given match — has been instrumental to our team’s success.”
After the Garnets avenged their only loss of the season against Byram Hills in the section quarterfinals, Cox had two assists in a semifinal win over Panas. He also scored in a 5-0 rout of John Glenn to send the Garnets to the Class A state semifinals.
“I think my size and strength allow me to play all over the field,” he said. “My favorite position is closer to the attack, but I’ll play on defense if we need me to.”
The Lions Club honoree is also a star in the classroom, sporting a 96+ GPA as a National Honor Society member. Asked to name his favorite courses and teachers, he quickly mentioned two: AP History, taught by Michael Szarkowicz, and philosophy taught by George Krajca.
A member of the percussion section of the Rye High School band, Cox likes to come up with his own music in his spare time.
“They’re mostly beats; I don’t know if I’d call them songs,” he said, a little sheepishly.
Cox will play soccer next fall at the University of Chicago, where he will probably study economics and history, courses that will give him the foundation for a possible career in finance.
“It’s awesome to see Lex heading to the University of Chicago, which is consistently a top 10 team in the DIII college rankings,” Small said. “We have a large set of recent alums who are excelling at the top levels of college soccer, and I think Lex will be a high impact player there.”
Cox didn’t hesitate when asked whom he might thank for winning this particular honor.
“My folks,” he said. “They stuck with me through more than a decade of playing practices and games in high school and travel to the various summer camps I’ve attended, at Wake Forest and Davidson in North Carolina, Washington & Lee, Middlebury, and Cal Berkeley. Cal is where they met and fell in love.”
As with the other athlete of the month honorees, Cox is eligible to be named Rye’s athlete of the year award when the Lions Club holds its annual awards luncheon at the end of the academic year.
