Ross Gordon remembers his daughter’s first steps. At 9 months old, she was ready to stand. She began moving her feet as most children do, but what Eva Gordon did next surprised him. She ran.

“It’s the truth,” Ross said. “We were like, ‘This is crazy.’”

Gordon’s first strides, Ross said, was when he knew she’d be an athlete. Since, Gordon has played soccer all over the world. But, when it came to choosing a home, Gordon’s never run far.

Now a senior at Syracuse (7-8-2, 2-6-1 Atlantic Coast), Gordon readies for her final game at the school in the city that built her. Once the best high school player in New York, Gordon played soccer in numerous states and countries, but she made a mark at Syracuse University, the school she’s loved since before kindergarten.

“(Syracuse) is all she knows,” Ross said.

Gordon moved to Syracuse when she was 2 years old and spent a large part of her childhood around SU. From going to Syracuse basketball and football games, Gordon and her family found themselves becoming Orange fanatics. It was through SU, also, that Gordon found a way to satisfy her obsession with soccer.

“I mean, I lived 10 minutes from the university,” Gordon said. “I feel like I’ve been here forever because I’m a local.”

Gordon spent a few years as the ball girl for SU’s women’s team. She would chase the balls all over the field, but joked that she didn’t always do a great job. Players would yell at her for not getting them the ball quickly enough, she said.

Still, she loved the team, and she came to all the games and tried to imitate all the little things the players did on game day — even how they wore their hair. None of the then-SU players could have known who she would become, nor that the pink hair tie she wore on one of her final days as a member of the Orange had been inspired by a childhood fantasy.

At age 11, coaches started to notice the passion Gordon had could be something real.

“We were encouraged by coaches,” Ross said. “They said they’ve seen a lot of players play, and she had … that ‘it’ thing.”

“That ‘it’ thing” took Gordon all around the world. Playing in the United States Olympic development program, Gordon made stops in Costa Rica, Spain, Russia twice, Florida, California and Oregon, Ross said, along with numerous other destinations.

On one of her trips to Russia, Gordon was named the Kuman tournament Most Valuable Player, playing a few years ahead of her age class. Just an eighth grader at the time, her name was already reaching the office of top recruiters. SU head coach Phil Wheddon made sure to stay in the mix, he said.

Attending Christian Brothers Academy (New York), Gordon established herself as one of the country’s best prospects. She was ranked among the top 100 soccer players in her class, Ross said, and was gotsoccer.com’s top women’s player in New York.

The Orange had fierce competition to get Gordon’s commitment. To stay in the mix, SU had to stay involved. Luckily for Wheddon, the commute wasn’t difficult.

“I hopped on my bike and rode to CBA to watch her play,” he quipped. “… You could practically kick a ball and hit (her high school).”

Syracuse was always a top option for Gordon, she said, and her connection to the school was strengthened by friendships with then-Syracuse players Emma and Jackie Firenze, Taylor Haenlin and Alexis Koval. Koval was a high school teammate of Gordon’s. A junior during Gordon’s first year at CBA, the two played together for two years before Koval moved onto Syracuse.

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Getting offered a scholarship from SU was “a bit of relief,” Gordon said. A stressful recruiting process had gotten to her, and she was eager to get it over with. She was “jumping out of her skin” with excitement, Ross said.

Things changed when Gordon finally got to campus. After scoring 54 goals throughout her high school career, Gordon didn’t record a goal until the 31st game at SU. Gordon has never finished a season leading SU in a statistical category and has never played in the ACC or NCAA tournament.

She’s watched members of her class close in on establishing themselves in SU history books. Captain and starting goalie Courtney Brosnan could break the program record for career saves Thursday. Yet, for Gordon, her last game will bring no such achievement.

Though Gordon doesn’t fill the score sheet, she became a captain for her hometown team and a person who Brosnan describes as coming the furthest since her freshman year. Wheddon described a goal she scored in 2016 as one of her defining moments.

“It was the look on her face,” Wheddon said. “It showed how much scoring a goal in a Syracuse uniform meant to her.”

The Gordons come to every one of her games and have hosted dinners for the Orange. The family has missed just one home game, and that was because of a family wedding. At every other game, Gordon would look to the stands and always know where to find her parents. Right below the press box, where Ross said the best view is.

After senior day this past Sunday, the seats in SU Soccer Stadium were vacant, and all the players’ parents made their way to Manley Field House for the post-senior day tailgate — which the Gordons helped coordinate.

Gordon’s parents had watched their daughter play at home for the last time. They never saw her play a postseason game or lead SU team to a winning season. But Ross and Sheila couldn’t be anything but proud, because they got to see Gordon’s career for themselves.

“I told her she could go four hours away,” Ross said. “She chose four minutes. Of course I’m happy she’s right in my backyard.”

Published on October 26, 2017 at 12:23 am

Contact Michael: mmcclear@syr.edu | @MikeJMcCleary