YOUNGSTOWN — When Chace Burnham was a kid, he came to the realization that his path in soccer was not going to be as scorer. Instead it has led him to setting up the assists for his teammates.
He has become one of the best at racking up assists in Lewiston-Porter history. The numbers back that up as he has 55 career assists, good for the second-most in a career in program history.
It was an easy transition mentally for him to realize that he needed to be the ultimate team player and set up his teammates so they can get the shine. The most important thing to Burnham is winning.
“At first I wanted to prove myself but I realized it’s a team game and Luke’s (Leardini) an elite player,” Burnham said. “… So I like setting him up. He’s fun to play with.”
This season, Burnham has three goals and 19 assists, good for the most assists in Section VI. A lot of his assists have to come to Leardini or James Scully, who have combined to score 41 of the team’s Section VI-leading 58 goals this season.
The senior has helped his squad start the season 8-0-1, while winning by a combined margin of 57-1.
Throughout this season, Lew-Port head coach Marc Niccola has tasked Burnham with taking his team’s set pieces.
“He’s a guy that takes our corner kicks,” Niccola said. “He takes our free kicks. So we’ve had a few (assists) there. A lot of them is right directly to Luke’s feet, Luke into space. He takes all our free kicks, our corner kicks and does a great job. So there’s a variety of ways he gets the ball to the guys. Plus he’s as fast as can be.”
The lanky midfielder has used his speed to his advantage with all three of his goals coming from the run of play including two coming as part of a two-goal, two assist performance against Grand Island on Sept. 22.
Throughout his career, Burnham’s improvements have come from working hard off the field in the gym to get bigger and stronger.
Now he calls his ability to set up his teammates his favorite part of playing the sport. It helps the team’s goal-scoring prowess when the players are all close friends.
“I think we work well together,” Burnham said. “I think that’s one of the key plays in every big game we have. It helps us get through the tough challenges like Canisius or hopefully Lancaster could beat them.”
Burnham’s team-first mentality has not just shown up in the assist column, it came before the team ever kicked a ball this season. It came as Niccola moved Burnham around the field to make way for sophomore midfielder Wyatt Leardini. He has moved into playing more of an attacking role as an attacking midfielder.
“He’s real important,” Niccola said. “He’s one of our better players. He’s a senior captain. He was one of that guys that was willing to move his position for a younger guy in the middle. Chace is really good with the ball, moves the ball to Luke and James real well. … He’s one of our key offensive players.”