GREENFIELD — She’s earned all sorts of accolades over the course of her soccer career.
She’s been all-county, all-Hoosier Heritage Conference and all-district. She has earned academic all-conference and all-state honors.
She’s won a sectional title in high school and state and national championships on her travel team.
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Now, after a senior year where she dominated the midfield on a nightly basis, Greenfield-Central’s Lucy Brand can add Hancock County Girls Soccer Player of the Year to her list of accomplishments.
“I think it’s really cool,” Brand said. “It shows that hard work pays off. I’m not a big person on recognition. I don’t care about it, I just enjoy playing soccer. It’s cool to be able to get the awards on top of just doing what I enjoy to do.”
The competition has been fierce during Brand’s high-school career, as it was in her senior year.
Her coach couldn’t be happier for Brand after watching her star player come up short previously to three standouts from Mt. Vernon — current senior Alexi Hardie won in 2015 (shared with Morgan Scruggs) and 2017, and fellow Marauders senior Cleo Mills won in 2016.
“Definitely excited for her, and it’s well, well deserved,” Greenfield-Central coach Erin Clark said. “She’s obviously been one of the top players in the county and the conference since her freshman year. She’s had a huge, huge impact on the program at Greenfield-Central. Super happy for her to finally get the recognition she deserves, I think.”
Brand controlled the midfield for the Cougars most of the year, utilizing her defensive background from her travel team, FC Pride, to great effect.
She did much more than just play the mid, though. Clark utilized Brand nearly everywhere on the field, from attacker to even goalkeeper.
The standout senior plays defense for FC Pride, a team she has helped lead to great success for the past four years, including state and national titles. She went from the B team roughly five years ago to serving as captain of the squad — which includes the other Player of the Year winners from the past few years — ever since.
When she got to high school, though, things changed. Brand came in as a defender. Clark wanted to move her to the midfield.
There was no pushback.
“When you’re a talented soccer player, you can play anywhere and you’re going to be great,” Clark said. “A lot of that was her willingness. From day one, she said, ‘OK, I’m center-mid now.’ Freshman and sophomore year she played very defensively. Junior and senior year she started scoring goals. Somewhere along this year, we thought hey, she’s really athletic, has really good reflexes. Let’s try her at goal.
Brand’s attitude about that was simple. If it was best for the team, she was all-in.
After scoring 13 goals and dishing out 13 assists this year, Brand’s career at Greenfield-Central ended in net, playing goalkeeper for penalty kicks against county rival Mt. Vernon in the sectional opener. She played the midfield during the game, but when it came down to an all-or-nothing penalty shootout, her coaches trusted her enough to both take a PK and defend them.
“It wasn’t really a surprise,” Brand said. “We kind of dabbled on the idea of it happening. I’m obviously not a goalkeeper, I had no idea what I was doing — I just kind of guessed and hoped for the best. But they can count on me for giving my all no matter where it is.”
Family footsteps
Brand’s interest in soccer was largely family-driven. She grew up watching her two older sisters, Taylor and Lauren, play soccer for Greenfield-Central.
The Brand family had a soccer net in the back yard, so in the summer, the sisters would all play together. That’s where Brand’s soccer journey started.
Watching them both play in high school and seeing Taylor play for FC Pride and then have success at a D1 college inspirational.
The youngest Brand sister wanted to follow in her older sisters’ footsteps.
She has, almost every step of the way. Brand became a key player at FC Pride herself, then immediately became a go-to player for Greenfield-Central.
Next, she heads to a D1 school, Xavier, on a full-ride athletic scholarship.
Brand credits her time at FC Pride, playing for such a high-level soccer team, as a big reason she has had so much success and is moving on to play at the highest level of college soccer.
“It’s just been such an amazing experience. Definitely opened all the doors to college recruitments,” Brand said. “The exposure has been great, but the experience playing on such a high-level team is just incredible. Couldn’t have gone to the place I am right now without being on that team.”
She committed to Xavier years ago, at the beginning of her high school career. She will officially sign with the team next week. She was accepted to the school a few weeks ago and is looking at studying biology into pre-med.
Always a hard worker, there wasn’t any period of complacency in the years since committing to play Division 1 soccer. Brand is too hard of a worker, and she has goals for her first year of college.
“When I go to Xavier, I don’t want to just be on the bench,” Brand said. “I want to be playing my freshman year. That’s my motivation. Just keep getting better, keep getting more fit and get to play.”
Living the dream
Her favorite moment of high school soccer is kind of a cliché, and she knows it.
It doesn’t change the fact that it stands out and was an incredible experience. Winning a sectional championship her sophomore year was a “picture perfect” ending to that season for Brand.
The Cougars were 4-11 the year before Brand got to the school. They went 6-6-2 in her first year, then won 10, 14 and 12 games in the past three years.
Her coach said that Brand led the Cougars by example, with her hard work serving as inspiration for the team.
“Really, ever since she came in as a freshman, everyone just looks to Lucy,” Clark said. “She is at a level that is just way above. Everybody else on the team rises to that level.”
The leadership Brand provided was especially important this year, as the Cougars, who don’t have a JV team, came into the season with a small roster, some key injuries and some young players stepping into prominent roles.
Despite being a leader, she was never the top scoring option for the Cougars. Brand scored a single goal her sophomore year before being asked to move into a more offensive role for the team.
Suddenly her goal totals spiked, to nine her junior year and 13 this year.
That has helped her develop as a player and helped prepare her for competition in college as a more well-rounded player.
“It’s definitely been different, something to kind of acclimate to,” Brand said. “It’s been fun to play a different role, go score some goals. I think it’s definitely made me a better player. I have new skills, new foot skills, a different viewpoint of the field, which is always good going in as a defender, being able to have the foot skills and being able to defend.”
While her soccer career at Greenfield-Central is over, there is still business to attend to before Brand heads to college. FC Pride is still playing, and Brand wants to “go out with a bang and get back to nationals, win another national title.”
Brand has transitioned back to defense with FC Pride and will stay there when she gets to Xavier, which she’s excited about.
That doesn’t mean she didn’t enjoy playing different roles at Greenfield-Central, though. It was a fun experience that she won’t soon forget.
She lived the dream.
“I think that’s what made high school so fun, just the unpredictable nature of it,” Brand said. “You can play a different position each game. It just keeps you on your toes. It’s something different. It’s just so much fun, so enjoyable.
“It was just kind of fulfilling the soccer dream of going and playing everywhere.”
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Who joins Brand to fill out the rest of the all-county girls soccer team? Find out on Page B2.
Who will be named the top boys soccer player in Hancock County? Find out in Wednesday’s edition of the Daily Reporter, where we reveal the entire all-county boys team.
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