Chloe DeLyser gathered the ball at the top of the box, took a couple of strides, hesitated and then banked her shot off the goalie and into the upper right side of the net for her third tally of the game with 28 minutes and 4 seconds remaining in the first half.
Cameras clicked and reporters Tweeted as DeLyser hugged her teammates in celebration. The game was paused as the public address announcer congratulated DeLyser for breaking the national high school record by scoring her 317th career goal. DeLyser’s coach — and cousin — Lori DeLyser presented her with a framed poster recognizing the accomplishment. It was a moment most in attendance on that chilly Tuesday evening will remember for a long time.
History. Chloe Delyser breaks the all-time national high school girls soccer goal scoring record with her 317th career goal @DandC @SBradleyDC pic.twitter.com/4oQd02UmgW
— Zachary Memmott (@ZacharyMemmott) October 15, 2019
Several media outlets, including the Democrat and Chronicle, immediately reported on the accomplishment. It’s not every day that a Section V athlete sets a national record, after all.
Apparently it wasn’t that day, either.
On Wednesday, Bruce Howard, director of publications and communications for the National Federation of State High School Associations, began reaching out to the New York State Public High School Athletic Association and members of the media to inform them that the organization would not recognize DeLyser’s achievement as the national high school record.
The reason? Her 319 career varsity goals (she scored a total of five on Tuesday) have been scored over the course of six seasons. DeLyser made the Marion varsity as a seventh-grader and scored 66 goals as a seventh- and eighth- grader and is at 253 (and counting) for grades 9-12.
The key words for the NFHS are “high school.” In an email on Thursday, Howard cited the National High School Sports Record Book, which states, “A student shall not have the privilege of participating in the same interscholastic sport for more than four seasons in a four-year school or three seasons in a three-year school. A student shall be allowed one competitive season per school year in a sport for record consideration.”
Suffice it to say, this didn’t go over well in Marion.
