Westbury High School senior Maria Rodriguez has been named among the top 100 Long Island high school girls soccer players for the 2026 season.

Rodriguez is also entering her third year as the Westbury Green Dragons’ team captain and her fourth year as a varsity starter. She began playing soccer in middle school as a midfield player, when she was 14. Now, she plays center back, the position she has played the longest across her five-year soccer career.

“To be honest, I started just for fun, and then once I got to high school, that’s when I started to realize that this is something that I see myself doing in the future,” Rodriguez said.

As a midfield player, she connected the team’s defense and attack and helped score goals and prevent the other team from scoring. She said that as center back, her role has shifted to primarily defending the goal and stopping goals from coming in.

Rodriguez said that as she transitioned from middle school to high school, she never played for the school’s junior varsity team and went straight to the varsity team. She said the move is uncommon for soccer players at Westbury High School.

“I think my coach saw something in me, and he was always there to tell me that I got it,” Rodriguez said. “Even before games, when I was nervous, he would always help me and make me feel confident in myself.”