Rylie Wollerton has played field hockey for most of her life, but she had to come to Pennsylvania for a whole new experience.
“We never had snow at our games in Virginia, so that was a little unexpected,” Wollerton said. “None of us were wearing Under Armour. It started to snow and we were wondering what was happening. It was crazy.”
Crazy would only scratch the surface for the year the Pine-Richland junior has had to endure. Yet through it all, Wollerton, a Louisville recruit, was able to put together a season in which she set the Rams’ records for goals and points in a season, and helped the team to its second consecutive WPIAL Class 3A title and a berth in the state semifinals.
She has also been named the 2020 Post-Gazette field hockey player of the year.
“She’s just impressive,” Pine-Richland coach Donna Stephenson said. “She’s highly skilled, understands the game and really fit in right away with the other girls.”
Did she ever. Wollerton, who played up front in the midfield with seniors Elaina Camino and Boston University recruit and 2019 co-player of the year Ella Rottinghaus, netted 33 goals and set up 10 others, including a key goal in the WPIAL final against Peters Township.
All that in one of the tumultuous year’s a teenager could go through.
In February, her life was uprooted when her family relocated to the Pittsburgh area from Chesapeake, Va., where she attended West Branch High School. In a normal year that wouldn’t be that big of a deal and there are practices in place to help with a smooth transition.
“Her mother had reached out to the athletic office a year ago,” Stephenson said. “(Athletic director Sean Simmons) sent me an email and, so whenever that kicks off, you reach out to the parent and make yourself available and ask questions. One of the things I did when I heard from her mother that they were moving here, I shared her name and phone number with her classmates because I wanted to make sure she had kids she knew in school.”
But this is 2020. Wollerton had barely gotten through the doors at Pine-Richland before everything shut down because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I got here and I met some of the girls on the field hockey team,” Wollerton recalled. “I was in school for about a week and a half and we went all virtual, so I was just starting to make friends and get to know people, and then everything shut down. We were stuck in this little townhouse – we didn’t have a house at the time because we were still looking – and we weren’t allowed to look for houses and it was not the best. But about halfway through quarantine, we were able to find a house and things started to open up and I made new friends.”
About the only person she didn’t meet once everything opened up was her coach.
“Probably the first time I saw her was at tryouts because of COVID we didn’t get to do things over the summer,” Stephenson said. “She did do offseason training in the summer, but we have a guy who runs it and I didn’t go to any of those. So my first impression was that she was killing it in tryouts, and she came in and worked hard and tried to prove herself.”
Though Wollerton proved herself on the field, she still has a ways to go before she heads to the ACC, and next season will certainly provide new challenges. With Camino and Rottinghaus leaving, she will have to take on more of a leadership role in the program. She also knows there are things she will have to work on if she is to jump right into the lineup for the Cardinals.
“I want to get my shots more accurate and work on my communication and my stick skills,” Wollerton said. “I’m really excited for the leadership role because Elaina and Ella obviously did a great job this year. We’re excited to continue what they started, so there will be a lot more talking on the field and communicating off the field, as well.”
First Published: November 26, 2020, 11:00 a.m.
