Sophie Snyder has no fear.
Not when she mixed it up on the gridiron as a youth. Not when she first tried soccer, and essentially volunteered to be the goalkeeper.
"I didn't want to run. Goalie seemed like it would be fun," Snyder said. "I ended up being good at it naturally and stuck with it."
So good that Snyder has been Marcus Whitman's starting keeper since eighth grade. Her communication skills are top notch, while her punts can flip field position. Snyder is a true competitor, said Wildcats coach Greg O'Connor.
"You need a little crazy in you to be a goalie," he said. "That fearlessness, that's what she's got."
The mindset is a prerequisite. The net can be a lonely place, and not a place for the faint of heart. One mistake can cost a team a goal, or worse, a game.
It's also a space for one to temporarily forget the worries of everyday life. To be an athlete. To be a teammate.
Earlier this year, it seemed Snyder's availability to fill those roles was very much in doubt.
Health scare turns serious
It was around August 2024 when Snyder found herself at the doctor's office. An otherwise healthy teenager, she had suffered a seizure that required immediate attention.
After various tests, both cardiac and neurological, Snyder was deemed OK. "It seemed like a one-time thing," she said.
That was until the following April when another seizure struck. This time, doctors looked a little deeper.
A CT scan revealed swollen lymph nodes in Snyder's neck. The ensuing biopsies revealed the worst: Snyder, then only a junior in high school, had Hodgkin's lymphoma. The disease, present in her neck, also spread to her left armpit and her chest.
Snyder took the diagnosis in stride. Her mother Michele, not so much.
"She was positive throughout the whole journey. It's amazing to me she didn't get down," Michele Snyder said. "For me, it was much worse. I was obviously very upset."
Doctors painted a positive picture. Because of Snyder's age and the location of the cancer -- it hadn't spread to any internal organs below the diaphragm -- there was a strong chance of a full recovery.
Most daunting was the months of upcoming chemotherapy treatment, which can drain the patient of their energy, appetite and general well-being.
"The doctors told us it was very curable and easy to treat. It was just going to be an inconvenience for six months," Michele Snyder said. "That helped settle me down. But the most nerve-wracking part was knowing how chemo affects people. That was my biggest concern for her."
There was also the matter of informing loved ones and teammates. Snyder normally played lacrosse in the spring, and some difficult conversations were ahead.
A devastating conversation
The news came as a shock.
Rob Weissinger has known Sophie Snyder since her elementary school days. He'd coached her, both as a youth player and varsity athlete. His daughter Raegan was a longtime teammate of Sophie's older sister, Helen, and the Snyders consider him a family friend.
He remembers the day. It was late April in the immediate aftermath of a game when Ed and Michele Snyder approached him. Weissinger braced for the typical parental post-game chat, expecting questions about playing time or strategy. What he was told was much worse.
"Her dad Ed kind of gently said, 'There's something going on with Sophie,'" Weissinger said. "I look over and Sophie goes, 'I have cancer!'" I think she said it in jest because she hadn't really accepted it. But a tear just rolled down my face. That was devastating."
The previous season, Snyder's sophomore year, she'd finished first on the team in ground balls and second in goals scored. That pace continued to start her junior season. Snyder had established herself as one of Whitman's integral players, but her availability for the remainder of spring was in doubt.
"I could care less about our record. Right then, my focus shifted into Sophie's well-being," Weissinger said.
Snyder had surgery to install a port into her chest, to ease the process for chemotherapy. Treatments started on May 23 and continued biweekly. While doctors said Snyder could continue sports to whatever degree she could manage, the recovery from port surgery soaked up almost the entirety of lacrosse season.
Hair loss followed, while thyroiditis accompanied the proceeding immunotherapy. While Snyder avoided symptoms of nausea, she developed severe mouth sores and other "weird side effects."
Wigs were popular for a time, until they became a nuisance.
"We were on a college tour and it was really hot that day. She said, 'The heck with this,'" Michele Snyder said.
Snyder shaved her head on July 3, and the following day painted it red, white and blue for the Fourth of July.
"Being bald was way cooler," Snyder said. "I wear hats occasionally. I just don't really care. I get the occasional little kid that walks by and gives me a look, but it just makes me giggle. I'm really light-hearted about it. It doesn't bother me now."
A positive step
The game was long-decided. Penn Yan, a lacrosse powerhouse, was the Class D section tournament's top seed. The Mustangs lived up to that billing, scoring one goal after another against overmatched Marcus Whitman.
The situation did offer some respite, however. Sophie Snyder was cleared to play.
Weissinger was apprehensive. What if her body can't handle the running? What if she damages the port in her chest? So he approached Penn Yan's coaching staff prior to the game and explained the situation.
"I didn't ask for any leniency, as far as letting her score or letting her get by," Weissinger said. "I just let them know, she has a port. Penn Yan plays aggressive. I just asked, can you try not to check her in the chest?"
Snyder didn't start the game or handle her typical workload. But she was able to play some minutes in the fourth quarter.
With five minutes left, her comeback took a feel-good turn. After a turnover, sister Helen launched a Hail Mary-esque pass about 40 yards that found its way to Sophie.
Multiple defenders closed in, but Snyder won the race to the cage and fired a shot far side that found the twine.
A goal worth one on the scoreboard, but a million in courageousness. Even the opposing sideline went berserk.
"Probably one of the better moments of my coaching career, to be honest," Weissinger said.
The goal was the start of Snyder's return to normalcy. Despite ongoing cancer treatments, she was able to play summer soccer (while wearing a chest protector) and attend open gyms.
"Originally I planned to keep it pretty chill during the summer, but once I went through the treatments and felt fine -- coming from an active athlete's standpoint, I would feel really lazy doing nothing all summer," Snyder said. "I'd do soccer one day, basketball the next, then back to soccer."
By September, Snyder said she felt "about 80% to 85% physically." Her endurance wasn't always there. When soccer teammates ran laps at practice, sometimes Snyder would walk.
"I always kind of keep an eye on everyone and try to be observant, but she is so self-aware," said O'Connor, Snyder's fall coach. "I'll tell you, the courage she has, even if she was walking the laps, she'd still do everything the other girls did. It didn't matter how long it took, she was going to finish."
Ever-present was the community support. The Snyders consider themselves a private family, but couldn't say no to those who wanted to help. There was the spaghetti dinner, with sauce and meatballs donated by Pepper's Family Restaurant (where Snyder works part-time), and a car wash. Some co-workers also shaved their heads in solidarity.
Weissinger ordered hundreds of purple bracelets that read, "Sophie Strong." Mother Michelle Snyder, astounded at the willingness to help and raise awareness, still wears hers 24-7.
"It was mind-boggling. I grew up here, my husband grew up here. We've been here a long time. But you never really realize your impact on other people," she said. "To see the outpouring of support was amazing. It blew me away."
An apropos choice
Sophie Snyder already knows what her future holds.
"I want to go into nursing. I want to get into pediatrics. I want to work with kids."
These career goals predate the Hodgkin's diagnosis, though Snyder joked that her medical history provided some expertise. She's a regular visitor to Geneva General Hospital where she's shadowed professionals as part of a mentoring program, and plans to attend nursing school after her time at Marcus Whitman.
Snyder is unsure if her future beyond high school includes sports. Medical programs are a major time investment, but she'll consider joining a club team and playing recreationally.
All indications from her doctors are that those plans will be unencumbered by cancer. Snyder is currently in a complete metabolic response. Or, as it's more commonly known, remission.
Her final treatment was Oct. 6. Follow-ups will continue, starting once every three months, then once every six months, and so on.
"I'm not surprised with Sophie," Weissinger said. "The whole family went into it with a positive attitude. It's still scary, but that kid is a fighter. I'm not religious, but I just had a feeling it wasn't her time."
Through it all, Snyder's character and leadership have been on display. She's a guiding light to the soccer team's younger players, of which there are many, that hardships aren't a hurdle too large to overcome, whether it's an error on the field or a health scare off it.
"Being that mentor, the person in a leadership role ... a lot of the younger girls look up to me," Snyder said. "They see me continuing to do all the things I can, even with what I was going through. I hope they realize just what they can do themselves too."