Blue Waves soccer star’s dream come true: senior Ashley Drozd moves on to D-I UConn Huskies

“When I was younger, soccer to me was just a way to have fun,” said Riverhead’s soccer star Ashley Drozd. “It was my way to get away. But over time, it became more of a passion than a hobby.”

Drozd, a senior, has committed to play Division I soccer as a forward at the University of Connecticut. To play for UConn was a “dream” for Drozd — a dream that unexpectedly collided with reality.

Ashley’s first experience with soccer came at just four years old, playing in the local PAL league. At 9, her talents were put to the test as she joined her first travel team.

“My first travel team was a boys team because there wasn’t any developed girls team around us at the time,” said Drozd.

“Sometimes, the teams would say that they weren’t going to play against girls even though I would always play just as well as any of the guys on the field. I would play most of the game and score goals even. At that point, I knew I had some natural potential.”

Drozd, one of three girls on the team, received her first true accolade at the end of the year: MVP.

“At first, I don’t think the guys on the other teams were treating me the same,” said Drozd. “But I played physical, so once I would slide tackle them or once they saw me play for a bit I think they realized that I wasn’t any different.”

At 12, Ashley joined a girls travel team out of Sachem which evidently prepared her for the next stage in her career: high school varsity soccer. Drozd joined the Blue Waves in 8th grade, immediately impressing her peers and coaching staff as she pressed her cleats into every field played as a starter.

“It was a little scary at first,” said Drozd. “I was so much younger and smaller than everyone. But my teammates made me feel welcome and once we started to play, all that didn’t seem to matter.”

Drozd ended up leading the team in goals that year. She went on to lead the Blue Waves in scoring as a sophomore, junior, and senior. Her sophomore year, Ashley was named team captain.

“I was honored to be named captain,” said Drozd. “My role was to be another coach on the field. If any of my teammates needed help with something, I could help them with it. I tried to use what knowledge I knew to help us succeed on the field.”

Drozd scored 23 goals her senior season, but none more memorable than her last.

“It was a free kick from pretty far out,” said Drozd. “I was aiming for the far post so that if it went wide of the goal it would be a cross to one of my teammates. I hit it upper right corner and the whistle blew right after that (marking the end of the game), it was a good way to go out.”

Coincidentally, Ashley will wear #23 for UConn.

“Twenty-three is just one of my favorite numbers,” said Drozd. “It was my number when I was younger. I didn’t even realize the coincidence until the season ended.”

Drozd joined the Long Island Rough Riders travel team when she was 13. Because of the overlapping school and travel practice schedules, Drozd was playing soccer nearly all year long. She went on to play in two SYL National Finals for the Rough Riders in 2008 and 2010.

As if juggling two teams wasn’t enough, Ashley joined a third team her freshman year, Sound Beach Barnsley, which played in an advanced age group.

“(Sound Beach) was my favorite team that I ever played on,” said Drozd. “We had such great team chemistry and I always loved going to practices and games. Some of them were like sisters to me, it was one of the greatest times of my life. I will never forget what my coach, Bob Shimpf, did for me. He gave me the confidence I needed and played a great role in developing me into the player I am today.”

Unfortunately, Ashley had to leave that team junior year to “make sure [she] was playing in the right age group and right level for college recruiting.” From there, Ashley joined East Meadow United, a nationally recognized team.

“The level of play was a great step up,” said Drozd. “It was a lot more intense than any of the teams I had played on before. Without that team there’s a very good chance that I wouldn’t be going to UConn next year.”

So how exactly did she get to join such a prestigious soccer program at UConn?

“It wasn’t easy,” said Drozd.

In fact, she did most of the work herself.

After attending summer camp at UConn before her freshman season — a camp she did for fun with some of her friends initially — Drozd then returned to that same camp again right before junior year.

“I knew UConn was where I wanted to go,” said Drozd. I loved everything about the campus, the school and the soccer program. It became my dream while I was at camp to one day play for their soccer team and from that point on, I worked for it.”

But her play didn’t speak for itself.

To put it simply, Ashley’s college recruiting process was “stressful.”

But by no means was it simple.

“I sent hundreds of emails to coaches. … Not just to UConn,” Drozd said. “Most of college recruiting is done by email. It was something that you had to do to get them to recognize you and to come see you play.”

Some coaches responded, some didn’t. She would send them information about tournaments she was playing in, her game schedule, a freestyle video and asked if they had any clinics coming up. See video.

“I finally got the UConn coach to come to one of my games after trying for so long. We were playing in Connecticut,” said Drozd. “Shortly after, I received the email from the coach saying that he thought I could be a good addition to their program.”

“(My efforts to get recruited) might seem silly to some,” said Drozd. “But getting that email was one of the happiest days of my life, to see my dream that I worked so hard for coming true.”

Drozd committed to UConn at the end of her junior year.

In her final season as a Blue Wave, Ashley broke three Riverhead girls soccer records: most goals scored in a game (5), most goals scored in a season (23), and most goals scored in a career (43).

But because of the league she played in, Drozd only received All-League honors.

“That’s a sore spot,” said Drozd. “I was pretty disappointed. They told us at the very end of the season that any player whose school played in the developmental league was not allowed to be awarded anything more than an All-League. It was frustrating not only just for myself, but because I knew some of my other teammates deserved more than that.”

Riverhead was moved down to the developmental league (League VIII) for Drozd’s senior season. The Blue Waves previously played in the developmental league in 2007 before being brought up to League IV.

The league also disqualified the Waves for the playoffs even though they posted an 8-4-1 record.

“I just hope they change the system after me so that the girls coming up will have something to play for,” said Drozd. “It stinks to know that you can’t even be acknowledged for any success you have on the field just because of your school’s league.”

For the past four years, Ashley began working with the local soccer program, East End Football Club, as a junior trainer for girls soccer, adding to her already hectic schedule but she loves it.

“It’s great because I am able to use my passion to help others,” said Drozd. “After a few practices I could see the effect that I started to have on the girls and it was nice to know that they looked up to me. They would come to my games and cheer for me and one of the girls even told me I was her idol. While I tried to instill a passion in them, the instilled one in me: to play better and to give them more to look up to. It’s nice to be able to use the passion I have for soccer to try and help my community.”

Expectations for college?

“I expect it to be really challenging,” said Drozd.

“I am going to have to work really hard at it each day.”

Something she’s done all her life.

RiverheadLOCAL action photos by George Faella. RiverheadLOCAL portrait photo by Michael Hejmej.