By ALEX SPONSELLER Among the many accolades that the Pilgrim girls soccer team received for its performance this past season, perhaps the most notable was junior Sarah Lynch being named to the United Soccer Coaches All-New England team, serving as one of only two Rhode Island players to make the cut.

“It is a really cool opportunity. When (Pilgrim coach Tom) Flanders called me up and told me I was nominated for it, I thought, ‘Wow, that’s really cool,’ but when I finally got it it felt amazing … of all the girls in Rhode Island, I was picked which was a really amazing feeling, to know that I won something that big,” said Lynch, who was especially surprised considering she is only in her junior year. “Girls that are seniors usually get this title, so I was kind of like, ‘Am I really getting this right now?’ It was really cool.”

Lynch was a key member of Pilgrim’s historic run in 2020. After making the move up to Division I, the Lady Pats did not skip a beat as they finished as one of the top teams in the state and appeared in the state championship against powerhouse La Salle.

Lynch credits her team for helping her reach her peak performance this fall.

“I feel like it was the team chemistry. We were all just so into the game and had such a great friendship. It was a really great season and our coaches are the best, they really pumped us up for every game that we were going into,” said Lynch, who was also glad to be able to take this award home during the pandemic. “We had to adjust to masks and everything and we all did fine, it was a little hard at times but it was great to see how we could adjust to these things and to see it turn out the way it did.”

As she begins her preparations for her final high school season, Lynch views this award as another source of motivation moving forward and is looking forward to getting another chance at a title with her teammates.

“This will make me work a lot harder knowing that I was picked for this award and knowing that I achieved this. It will make me work harder knowing the things that I can achieve in the future,” said Lynch. “It’s very special, we have a very strong team and a lot of the girls that I am friends with on the team are in my grade too. We have a strong bond and we have been playing with each other since we were 8 years old.”

Along with Lynch, Flanders was also awarded by the United Soccer Coaches, being named Rhode Island’s Large School Coach of the Year.