Stadium’s Brooklyn Lee is TNT’s All-Area Girls Soccer Player of the Year
Seemingly after every match, a new coach, parent, or spectator approaches Stadium head coach Jeremy Leffel – taken aback and mesmerized by the on-field dominance of Brooklyn Lee.
Responses ranged from praise, to surprise, to fear, particularly from those on the opposing sideline. “Wow, Number 12,” Leffel heard countless times. “What a smooth player,” others said. “What a talented player.
“What a dangerous player.”
One opposing postseason coach considered Lee “easily the best player we faced.” But what made Stadium’s senior co-captain the program’s best and brightest asset extended far beyond the pitch.
“I’ve been able to work with a ton of really talented players,” Leffel admitted. “But I have not worked with any players at her level of skill and her impact on the game, who also are the first to arrive, and the first to help clean up, and the first to send out emails to the players to tell them to meet for dinner. It’s that phenomenal combination that makes her so unique.”
Lee’s 20-goal, 10-assist senior campaign helped deliver a District 3/4 title and state-tournament berth, Stadium’s best season since 2017. She was the program’s leading scorer in each of her four high-school seasons, a three-time 3A PCL MVP, and competes with an unmatched intensity and joy.
Lee is The News Tribune’s All-Area Girls Soccer Player of the Year.
“It shows the impact I was able to make on my team, my teammates, and on the league,” Lee told The News Tribune. “I put so much work into it… so much dedication to the sport.
“I knew I had to step up. I knew I had to carry the team on my shoulders at some times. I was prepared for that. I was ready to work hard.”
What makes scheming for Lee a true conundrum? Leffel can plug the senior forward just about anywhere. Four years ago, Lee entered the Stadium program as a natural defender, but an already-fortified back line nudged her into a new role – starting freshman forward.
“I think she even volunteered to play keeper at a training session one time,” Leffel said. “She just wants to play.
“She’s equal-parts intense and talented, and goofy and fun, and full of joy.”
In a freshman season shortened by the pandemic, Lee powered Stadium to a league championship with a game-winning goal in the title game. Her legend grew.
“I would never quit,” Lee said. I would get tackled, I would get back up. I’m making those runs every time, you know? I think it’s easy as a captain (to) focus on yourself a lot. … (But) it’s a team sport. You have to make sure everyone is contributing in a way that will help us win.”
Lee “reads the game” – better, she senses it, Leffel said. She’s versatile and dynamic, both a skilled scorer and refusing defender.
“Brooklyn is a combination of that player who’s phenomenally talented, like a generational player, and leads with unmatched grace and humility,” Leffel said. “Something I tell my girls all the time, the best players on the field are the ones who make others around them better. I think that describes Brooklyn.”
Moments that best epitomize Lee, Leffel says: Stadium’s final pair of matches this season, which encapsulated both the climax of a district championship and devastation from an early, first-round exit in the state bracket. When the Tigers rallied from a 2-0 deficit to even the district title game and stun Peninsula in a shootout on Nov. 2, Lee refused to hoist the trophy without every teammate in the huddle. And when Stadium lost their state opener to Ferndale in another shootout, 3-2, just eight days later, Lee was first to console her disappointed goalkeeper – unfazed by the reality her high school playing career was over.
Through every up and down, high and low, Lee was Stadium’s constant. And the elite skills displayed on the pitch matched an off-the-field dedication to improve.
“She’s such a student of the game,” Leffel said. “I mean, so many conversations with her, and the captains and other coaches, but especially with Brooklyn. Trying to figure things out… the right positions. And I don’t know if a negative word ever comes out of her mouth. She’s always looking for opportunities and the right ways to use players on the bench. It’s never personal.”
Soccer runs in the family, too. Lee’s sister, Kamari, was Stadium’s senior captain in 2021.
“I remember when they would (announce) our names, hearing two Lees and our parents in the crowd. That was definitely fun,” Lee said.
She arrived at her first soccer practice in fifth grade, and instantly fell in love. The passion grew. Then, it blossomed.
“I’d go home and I’d practice,” Lee said. “I’d watch as many games as I can. I read the books.
“I just saw how much I was getting better, and I fell in love with that process of getting better and wanting to improve every day.”
How things have changed: Lee committed to the University of Louisville in May and joins a Power-5 program in a competitive Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). She’ll return to a full-time role on the back line, her natural position before excelling at forward.
“(Lee) is very cerebral and has a natural feel for the game,” Louisville head girls soccer coach Karen Ferguson-Dayes, the winningest coach in program history, said in an earlier release. “She is both calm and composed on the ball while also being extremely difficult to beat 1-v-1. She is just beginning to scratch the surface of her potential.”
