Eastside senior captain Jayden Irby is one of the unquestioned leaders for the Lady Eagles.
For the past four years, she’s been vital in capturing three state titles and is leading the charge for a fourth.
But Irby has a very unique way of describing her leadership style.
“I’m a bit of a ‘Negative Nancy’ at times,” Irby said. “To be honest, it’s rare that I even smile when I’m on the field. I just want to get things done.”
Irby is one of Eastside’s three senior captains this year. Goalkeeper Emmy Rikard and Lydia Parker also don the ‘C’ armbands. Irby describes them a bit differently.
“They’re definitely more of the ‘Positive Polly’ types,” said Irby, cracking a self-professed rare smile. “But honestly, I think having those two different genres of leaders helps us. I think it balances us out.”
“You’ve got to have the one that’s going to call people out at times,” said Eastside head coach David Craig. “It comes with a little bite sometimes, but it makes the girls say, ‘Hm, I better do what I need to so she doesn’t bite at me again.’ But you need that. And it’s effective, especially with the balance of Emmy and Lydia bringing a different kind of leadership to the table.”
Though Irby says she doesn’t smile much on the pitch, she did let a big grin loose in the 67th minute of Friday night’s 5-A Division 2 Upper State Championship vs. Greenville.
Irby got her head on the end of a corner kick from sophomore Brooke Knarr, powerfully heading the ball into the top of the net to give the Lady Eagles a 1-0 win.
“Brooke and I, earlier in the game, we were already drawing out the play,” said Irby. “On all of the corners before, the [Greenville] goalkeeper is tall and the ball kept ending up in her hands. So I told Brooke I was going to fix my run, and so I did, and she found me.”
Her game-winning goal sent Eastside to its fifth-straight state championship game. The Lady Eagles have won the last three.
The Lady Eagles will take on Chapin next week in a rematch of last year’s 5-A Division 2 state championship, which Eastside won 3-2 in extra time. The game will be played at Memorial Stadium in Columbia. Official game time and date are expected to be confirmed this weekend.
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