Growing up in England, football was always an important part of Connor Edwards’ life. So when his family moved to Deerfield in 2005, there was certainly an adjustment to be made — beginning with calling it soccer.
Edwards more than found his way through the soccer world in Franklin County, and he’s continued that on to the next level. The junior was recently elected captain of the Roger Williams University men’s soccer team, and he will wear the arm band for the upcoming fall season in Bristol, R.I.
“Last year, I really started feeling a lot better with my performances, more commanding on the field, more vocal and took on more of a leadership role,” Edwards explained. “I think that kind of led me into this offseason. Leading the team in workouts, going through different things with the guys, I think that helped me get the captaincy.”
Edwards started 10 games a year ago, appearing in 19 for the Hawks, which went 8-6-5 overall and lost to Wentworth in the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) quarterfinals. He scored a goal and dished out three assists, playing out of the midfield.
“Every year, I’ve been getting a lot of good playing time,” Edwards said. “College has been a great experience so far, on and off the field. The soccer is great but the campus is beautiful, the academics are tough.”
Upon arriving in Deerfield in ’05, Edwards attended Deerfield Elementary School before moving on to Eaglebrook School. He graduated from there in 2013, and went on to Northfield Mount Hermon School where he put together an interesting career with the Hoggers.
He made the varsity team as a freshman, and moved into the lineup when the starting midfielder went down with an injury early in the year. From there, his playing time increased, and he helped NMH reach the finals of the NEPSAC Tournament both his sophomore and junior seasons.
That set the stage for what he expected to be an impactful senior season. But in the season opener, Edwards lunged out to block a pass and extended his leg. The leg buckled, and he couldn’t put any pressure on his knee. It was a similar feeling to the previous summer, when he landed wrong on his leg going up for a header. He played through that injury, but quickly knew this one was much worse.
“I knew it was going to be a problem,” he recalled.
Not even one game into his senior season at NMH, a torn ACL ended his high school career.
“It was definitely the lowest point in my life,” Edwards said. “All four years had been building up to that so it was devastating. It was hard not to be able to play, and then see all my friends playing. It was tough to watch and not be out there, but I made a point to go to every practice and game and support the guys. It was definitely tough but you always have to put the team first.”
Edwards had surgery to repair the damage in October 2017, and then focused in on his college choices. Sitting with an injury left some uncertainty about his future, but Roger Williams coach James Greenslit had seen Edwards play many times during the club season. Greenslit contacted Edwards after the surgery and confirmed that he was very much still interested in having him come to the Ocean State.
“That was a blessing for me because I had that acceptance of a college,” Edwards began. “A lot of people with season-ending injuries their last year of high school, they have to do (postgraduate) years to try and get to play somewhere in college. It was really tough because I couldn’t do anything to prove to schools what I was capable of, but Roger Williams stuck by me.”
His recovery took almost 10 months, but Edwards was ready to go for his freshman season with the Hawks.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Edwards said his spring season was canceled, and the team has been holding meetings over Zoom while keeping tabs on one another via offseason workouts. He’s currently finishing up his spring semester online.
“It’s definitely tough, puts into perspective our time is limited with the sport that we have,” he offered. “Seniors in spring lost their season and for a lot of them, it’s the last they’ll ever play. It really made me think, ‘Wow, this could end at any moment.’
“It’s exciting that I’ve been elected captain, excited to go into the spring season changing the mindset of the team and get more focused, and then everything kind of stopped,” he continued. “Energy levels were low but we’re trying to keep a competitive motivational aspect to every day as a team for the fall.”
For now, he’s back in Western Mass. waiting for the chance to lead his team as a senior captain. A long journey, but one that Edwards hopes to put an emphatic exclamation mark on in a few months.