Petoskey's Farley expands family success with soccer Player of the Year honors

PETOSKEY — There’s no denying where the Farley name has become best known within the Petoskey athletic program.

With a pair of recent NCAA Division I signees and a coach in both cross country and track and field, Farleys have been on a tear in both sports of late.

But, there’s one in every family. That one that goes down a different path.

And, for Kate Farley, her own path on the soccer field led to great success away from the family business.

“I feel like they’ve known, even since middle school that I’ve always like soccer better,” said Farley. “That was kind of more where my heart lied I guess. They’re fine with it.”

While she ran cross country for her farther and head coach Dave Farley and has been teammates with all her siblings, including Joe, Caroline and most recently Tommy, it was always with a different focus.

“I just kind of used it as a way to condition for soccer,” said Kate. “Sometimes people will joke about it or make comments, but it’s nothing serious.”

That’s probably because of how talented she became for the Northmen on the pitch.

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She earned back to back All-Big North Conference seasons and pulled in Division 2 all-state honors in her final season this spring. Now, she’s named the 2023 Petoskey News-Review Girls’ Soccer Player of the Year.

After Petoskey lost much of its scoring from a year ago, Farley knew she was going to be counted on more in 2023. And she stepped up accordingly.

Within the first couple of games, Farley notched a pair of goals to help the Northmen to wins and continued at that trend as the weeks went on.

“We had a really new and young offense and we just weren’t sure how everything was going to click this year,” said Farley. “I feel like it went better than expected just knowing that we lost a lot of really good players from the previous senior class. So I was pretty happy with how we did. Obviously I wish we would have advanced further than just first round, but we did play a super competitive team and I think we fought pretty hard.”

Farley finished the season with 10 goals and eight assists, both leading the Northmen. She also developed some good chemistry with others around the field, like newcomer Annika Gandhi right from the start.

“I think that we actually worked really well together, despite being new playing with each other before,” she said.

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On top of the scoring, Farley was just everywhere for Petoskey. While her expertise might have come at one end, she put her body on the line wherever the ball ended up.

“Being in the midfield, I was used to kind of being everywhere and depending on the game and team we were playing, I went where I was needed, whether that was more offensive or more defensive,” she said. “I liked being able to help out the defense and the offense and just wherever I was needed.”

In a class of just five seniors, it was also key for seniors to step up and help the next generation of PHS players, something Farley knew was needed heading into the season as well.

“I think for the seniors in general, there was a lot of leadership on our part,” said Farley. “We had such a young team, but I think moving forward there’s some good leaders in the younger classes as well. They shouldn’t have a problem.

“I think they’re definitely set up well. They’ve got a lot of talent in the younger grades and I think the team will do really well next year.”

Farley herself will head to Michigan State in the fall and look to join the rec. team to play with recent PHS graduates, keeping her love of the sport going after a fast career and final season.

“I feel like even from the start in preseason to the very last games, it felt like it was two weeks,” she added with a laugh.

But, in the years ahead now, when people hear the Farley name at PHS, cross country and track won’t be the only sports that come to mind.

Contact Sports Editor Drew Kochanny at dkochanny@petoskeynews.com. Follow him on Twitter, @DrewKochanny, and Instagram, @drewkochanny

This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Petoskey's Farley expands family success with soccer Player of the Year honors