Karyn Riviere wins New Haven Register Player of the Year Award.  She will be attending UCONN in the fall to play for the National finalists.

Article from New Haven Register - 12/11/2003:

For so long, there was a label attached to the Guilford girls� soccer team that seemed a bit unfair.

The team had won six state titles, but the last had come in 1992. The inability to win one after that point made Guilford a target for a dreaded word: soft.

The Indians would steam past the competition in the Southern Connecticut Conference in the regular season, only to fall in the CIAC tournament, one way or the other.

In 2002, Guilford was cruising through another regular season. Then in the seventh match of the season vs. fierce rival Hand-Madison, central midfielder Karyn Riviere broke her leg.

She was lost for the season. Riviere was obviously just one of 11 players on the field, but she was the only one who could put the team on her back if she had to.

Guilford lost to Farmington in the Class L semifinals 1-0 that season, and Riviere certainly would have made a difference.

This fall, a fully recovered Riviere led Guilford to a share of the Class L title with Farmington. For that, Riviere is the Register Area Girls� Soccer Most Valuable Player.

Riviere finished the season with 24 goals and 19 assists and helped the Indians to a 16-0 regular-season record.

In the postseason, the only blemish was a loss on penalty kicks to Mercy-Middletown in the SCC tournament final.

Sharing the state title did not matter to Riviere � she and the Indians got to go out as champions and tear off that unsightly label.

"It was an incredible because it was our senior year and you couldn�t have gone out better than that," Riviere said. "We worked really hard for four years."

Riviere had a little extra work to do as she made a complete physical recovery from her broken leg by the spring of 2003. Riviere was a bit tentative her first few matches for her club team, Yankee United.

Rather rapidly, the thought of another injury went away with each touch of the ball.

"It was totally out of my mind," Riviere said. "When I came back playing in the spring, I was a little tentative, but you can�t really come thinking you�re going to get hurt."

By the fall, Riviere was roaring through another impressive regular season. She did, however, raise her play to another level in the Class L tournament. In the quarterfinals against defending champion New Canaan, all the pieces were in place for Guilford to bow out. Riviere didn�t let it happen, and it wasn�t only because she scored two goals directly off corner kicks.

It was her intensity from midfield. It invaded every member of the Indians on the field. The Indians pushed the Rams around and held in check a disciplined, high-scoring team, the kind that normally ends the season for Guilford.

In the semifinals against Masuk-Monroe, Riviere got the winning goal, and in the final against Farmington, she helped create her side�s lone goal.

Now, it�s off to the next challenge: to play college soccer at the University of Connecticut.

"I was just hoping to develop my game through high school," Riviere said. "UConn has a great program and getting a chance to play for a great team and representing your own state ... the rest of the schools really don�t compare."

Nothing this season, however, compared to Riviere.