Rye's Stephanie Bak focused on this season with hopes to play at the next level

Sometimes reaching a goal in life is harder than you think.

For Stephanie Bak, her goal of playing collegiate soccer is still within reach; however, her time at Rye is running out.

Bak spoke about how she hopes to lead her team this year, improve her skills, and ultimately reach her goal of becoming a college athlete.

“I got into soccer in elementary school, but I didn't really get into it until high school,” Bak said. “I just kind of showed up and it was just my sport. I like the intensity and the fast pace of it.”

Bak is the Rye Thunderbolts' goalkeeper. Her team has relied on her to stop many shots over her career, despite Bak originally having no plans of playing between the pipes.

More: Haylie Villalpando reflects on her time at Pueblo Centennial, looks to lead the team

“I played in middle school a little bit, but I had no hope of playing it in high school,” Bak said. “They just told me to jump in one day and I kind of never left. Now, I like everything about it. I like physical sports, so I like the physicality of it and the high intensity.”

Bak knows that when it comes to being a goalkeeper, it's more than just athleticism that will get you to the next level. The position also comes with a sense of responsibility to be at the top of your game mentally as well as physically.

“When it comes to being the keeper, absolutely you need to keep your mind up because if you miss, the team looks at you because you are the one that messed it up,” Bak said.

Aside from being mentally prepared for the position, Bak is touted as a workhorse in the box. Her coach says she is basically a wall back there with the number of shots she has blocked in her career.

Bak says she wants to improve her game this year as it's her last year with the program. She also wants to enjoy her time with her teammates while it lasts.

“Getting to make all the memories with the girls and the coaches and just to have the experience of it, to have something that you love to do and be able to do it for so long is special,” Bak said.

She also spoke about her life after school. Bak plans on attending Colorado Mesa University in Grand Junction and she will be studying exercise science so that she can eventually get her master’s degree in athletic training. She would like to one day become an athletic trainer near home and help give back to the community.

More: Pueblo Central's Yalaynah Martinez is playing for a fan that is 3,000 miles away

“Since my college is so far away, weather-wise, I haven't really been able to make it to a whole lot of soccer-related things,” Bak said. “So, I don't know, we're just going to see where the cookie crumbles.”

Bak said she knows that she must work hard this year to prove that she is ready for the next step.

Outside of soccer, Bak has a twin brother who has helped her along the way. She talked about the dynamic between the two of them.

“It's pretty cool having a twin because you have someone to do everything with,” Bak said. “We play such different sports but if he sees stuff that I missed during a game, he'll tell me after ‘Hey, you missed her, she was open on this side, and you didn't see it,’ kind of thing.”

So far, the Thunderbolts are 1-2 this season with Bak already on a great pace with a shutout to her name.

Christopher Abdelmalek is a sports reporter for the Pueblo Chieftain and can be reached at cabdelmalek@gannett.com or follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @chowebacca. Support local news, subscribe to The Pueblo Chieftain at subscribe.chieftain.com

This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Rye's Stephanie Bak looks to lead Thunderbolts this season