Middle senior overcomes nagging injuries to blossom into standout

Posted: November 4th 2025

Middle Township's Riley Odom (right) defends against an Ocean City player from a game earlier this year. Odom was named a league all-star defender this fall.

By BRIAN CUNNIFF

CapeAtlanticLive.com

Riley Odom has dealt with knee issues for her entire soccer career at Middle Township High School.

“Every year, I’ve had problems with my (left) knee,” she admitted.

The pain and stress of dealing with the injuries haven’t deterred her in developing into one of the Cape-Atlantic League’s top center backs.

A four year-starter as a defender at Middle, Odom was recently named a first team CAL American Conference all-star, no easy feat considering how competitive the conference is.

“Riley is one of those last great competitive kinds of kids,” Middle coach Mark Scarpa said. “She’s a player that wants the team to succeed and she gets upset when we don’t. That’s kind of dying a little, where kids are caring that much when success isn’t easy to find.”

“She’s clearly our most veteran leader. She brings a work ethic and an expectation of caring about the outcomes of games that projects onto the younger girls and even to a few of the older girls, too. Riley leads the way for them. She cares about them and she cares about our effort on the field.”

Odom started as a freshman under then-coach Mike Hickman when Middle went 12-4 and captured the CAL National Conference title. That bumped Middle, a smaller Group II school, into the American Conference – the league’s most competitive – the following season. Despite the challenges, Middle has been more than respectable since, going 8-7-2 two seasons ago and 9-11 last fall. The Lady Panthers will take a 6-9-1 mark into Wednesday’s state playoff game at Seneca.

“Our schedule’s been tough, but with the way I think personally, I’d rather play hard teams and compete as best we can than play easy games and win every game,” Odom said.

Odom pointed to one of the highlights of Middle’s season this fall, a 2-1 win over Ocean City in late September.

“It’s much more fun to be playing a better team and beating them, like when we upset Ocean City,” she said. “That’s one of the best wins in my career at Middle. Playing in games like that and giving it your all is more important to me than just going out and winning games against teams that aren’t as good.”

Odom’s issues with her knee go back to her freshmen season. She dealt with some general soreness through her first two seasons before a meniscus tear forced her to miss the entire preseason of her junior year. Then this fall, more nagging issues with the knee forced her to miss the team’s first four games.

“It’s been hard, because I feel like every year there’s always something,” Odom said. “But I feel like in some ways it’s actually helped me because I focus hard on recovery and putting in the work and taking care of my body.”

Through it all, Odom’s play has improved with each passing season.

The injuries have “made her a smarter player,” Scarpa said. “She’s had to be more efficient. One of the many things I love about her game is her ability to read everything in front of her. She gets in that crouched defensive position, that containing position, and she knows when to step up and tackle and win the ball and when to back track and let the attacker work themselves into her trap. Playing in our conference, she’s been attacked by the top offensive players in our league. That’s only helped her sharpness in her ability to read what a player is going to do with the ball.”

This season, Odom has had to lead an inexperienced back line, with seniors Reagen Powell and Mya Robinson playing their first varsity seasons. Junior Parker Milstead is the fourth defender, with sophomore Zoe Super handling central defensive midfielder duties.

“Clearly, next year, we’re going to be very young on our back line,” Scarpa said. “Since we’re losing three out of our four players, I’ve tried to take some moments to experiment. I’ve pulled Riley aside and told her, ‘Hey, I’m going to put a younger kid back there with you for a little bit. Do your best to teach her and get her where she needs to be.’ I really appreciate her willingness to take on that role as well. She’s grabbed onto it and accepted it and done it quite well for us.”

Odom, a member of the National Honor Society, has competed in track and field and previously played basketball at Middle. She is hoping to play soccer at the college level. Rutgers-Camden has shown interest. 

At some point soon, Odom’s high school career will come to an end.

“It’s definitely been quite the journey for me,” Odom said. “I’ve gotten to play with a lot of different girls and with a lot of different groups of girls. I feel like the whole experience has been character building for me. I think I’ve come a long way since my freshman year, confidence-wise and in my game in general.

“I’m excited to continue playing if I can. What happened in high school has played a big role in making me where I am today. It’s definitely surreal that it’s almost over. I feel like the past four years flew by. It’s going to be a big change, but I’m excited to move on.”