Taylor Williamson is on a roll

RIO RANCHO — It’s not easy being the new kid. That’s especially true if you are a good deal younger than the kids around you and you’re being asked to perform at a high level. But that was exactly the situation for Cleveland Storm midfielder Taylor Williamson in 2020, when she was in eighth grade.

COVID had played havoc with the school and athletic schedules, and Williamson found herself on the sidelines of a varsity CHS soccer game, in full uniform, warming up to actually go into the match.

“I was so scared,” she says. “I was really nervous, and I just couldn’t figure out what was going on. I couldn’t keep a thought straight.”

Cleveland Storm head coach Gregory Rusk doesn’t remember it that way, and he certainly has a hard time seeing her like that now.

“Funny, I don’t ever remember her as a frightened, little eighth grader,” he says. “She was nervous, but she just got down to business and did her job. ... She is a fully developed soccer player now who is confident in her play.”

Those are Williamson’s trademarks now: confidence, leadership, fitness. Those are the traits that have led her to committing to St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas, where she’ll play soccer and study kinesiology.

“It’s like sports medicine,” she said.

Part of that hard work and determination is her on-field position. Playing midfield, especially defensive midfield, in soccer is arguably the most physically demanding position in all sports, from an endurance and stamina point of view. But a lot of it just has to do with the fact that Williamson loves to play.

“My dad plays (soccer) and he put me in it when I was little and I never stopped,” Williamson says. Her father, Eric Williamson, is taking this season off from his squad to watch his daughter play her senior year.

Her mom, Alicyn, is a swimmer and says watching Taylor play is one of the joys of her life.

“Watching her play ... it’s amazing,” she says through tears of pride and happiness. “She loves it.”

Rusk sees that enthusiasm in her perseverance and leadership.

“Taylor leads by example. When the going gets tough, Taylor gets going,” he says. “It has been a pleasure coaching Tay over the last five years. She’s a very hard worker and is open to practicing technique as well as tactics. When it comes time to do our physical training, she is at the front.”

Things haven’t always been sunny for Williamson and the Storm, however. She still remembers the heartbreak of losing the State Championship in 2022 to Eldorado (a 1-1 draw, decided in a shootout.)

“Losing state two years ago in the final was really hard,” she says. “But then, coming back last year and wanting it back and working harder ... and the whole team had gone through that loss, so we knew we had to prove that year.”

In 2023, the Cleveland Storm won the State Championship, beating the La Cueva Bears and capping off a record-breaking, one-loss season.

That’s a long way from the frantic middle-schooler feeling very lost on the pitch with the varsity team. And Williamson has some advice for the other players who might be coming into a similar situation.

“Just be confident,” she says. “Play how you know how to play. You are there for a reason.”

Williamson devotes the vast majority of her time to academics and soccer, but she also does plenty of other activities. She is in the Best Buddies program and she’s a member of the National Honor Society.

Add her 38 points in 71 career games as a defensive midfielder to that resume, and you have an impressive young lady who is sure to succeed in whatever path she tries.