Liam Higgins says he’s really only good at one thing on the soccer field. It just happens to be the hardest thing to do.
“My coaches tell me the only thing I know how to do is score,” the Bishop Eustace Preparatory School senior said with a laugh after recording a hat trick against Glassboro on Oct. 22. “I can’t tell you why. I’ve been on offense all my life for any sport, so it just comes naturally I guess.”
There’s a little more to it than that. Higgins, a lacrosse player by trade, has an explosive first step, and he makes good fast decisions when a scoring chance arrives. He can also blast the ball past the goalie when he has an open shot.
“He’s a two-sport athlete, and he works really hard at what he does,” Bishop Eustace coach Vito DiSanti said. “It’s not always the prettiest, but he’s a gritty kid. He embodies that for us as a team, and when he gets on the ball, he can make anything happen.”
Soccer was Higgins’ first love, as he first kicked a soccer ball several years before he picked up a lacrosse stick in the fifth grade. He also plays in men’s recreational ball hockey leagues, which might be where he got his toughness from. The combination of all sports made him elite in lacrosse, where he is a midfielder and scored a team-high 60 goals last season.
“I’m always running,” Higgins said. “I’m always pretty active.”
Through the Glassboro game, Higgins has scored 25 soccer goals this season, which tied a school record. His career total of 54 is also believed to be close to a school record.
“But he’s not the type of kid that worries about those things,” DiSanti said. “We all work for each other out here. It just so happens the ball finds his foot a lot of the time.”
It’s a mentality that was drilled into him playing backyard sports with his older brother, Aidan, and his younger sister, Aislynn. Aidan is a freshman playing lacrosse at Pennsylvania’s Arcadia University and was a defender in both soccer and lacrosse at Eustace. Aislynn is a sophomore at Eustace and also plays soccer and lacrosse. The family scrimmages are intense.
“My dad plays defense,” Liam said. “He is always there with me with my brother and my sister. I have always been in a competitive atmosphere always since I was young. I just really enjoy beating them.”
Bishop Eustace was 6-8 through Oct. 22 and plays in one of the toughest conferences in South Jersey. The scouting report against the Crusaders always has Higgins circled. It never seems to matter.
“We play in the Olympic Conference, which is a really hard conference with good defenders and everyone knows him,” DiSanti said. “They know what battle they have because he’s going at them the whole time. He works every single minute that he’s moving.”
Last year, the Crusaders won a pair of playoff games before the season ended in the semifinal round of the South Jersey Non-Public B playoffs. He’s more focused on another run rather than admiring his own statistics.
“I’m not really worried about that right now,” Higgins said about approaching the school record. “I just want to win. I want to make a run in the playoffs, and just win with the team. That’s what I’m looking forward to.”
Higgins is uncertain where he will play lacrosse next year in college but he knows he wants to study in the field of business. He’s also looking to squeeze every last drop of fun out of his final soccer season at the Pennsauken high school.
“This school has brought me a lot of fun,” he said. “I met a lot of great people, and I just want to enjoy it with them and graduate together.”
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