It was a non-league game like any other, at least it was at the start.

Newburgh Free Academy senior forward Marina Parodo entered the game with 66 goals, one away from tying the girls’ soccer goals record, and two away from breaking it.

She scored three in the Goldbacks’ 4-3 win over the Beacon Bulldogs at Academy Field on September 20.

Her second goal was her 68th, breaking the previous record set by Celina Carrero in 2012.

“It just means so much that, like, all of my hard work towards it has paid off,” said Parodo, who has been on the varsity team since she was in eighth grade. “It just feels so great. The support and the encouragement and congratulations, from my coach and my teammates, just feels so good.”

When and where such a record is broken isn’t something that can be planned, but fortunately for Parodo, she was able to finish the job at home.

“I just felt so comfortable to have more of our supporters in the stands to see it happen,” Parodo said. “It just felt right.”

In 2022, Parodo led the Goldbacks in scoring, helping to lead the team to an 8-8-1 record and a second-place finish in the Orange County Interscholastic Athletic Association Division I, ending their season in the Section 9 Class AA semifinals. Parodo also was named a Section 9 all-star by the Section 9 Coaches Association for the second straight season. She also was named a third-team all-state all-star by the New York State Sportswriters and Coaches Association for Girls Sports.

“She’s been our leading scorer every year she’s been on the team,” Newburgh coach Dave Doulin said. “Even though the other team is preparing to stop her, and they know that it’s going through her, sometimes they really can’t stop it.”

Parodo recently secured her future by committing to continue her athletic and academic career at Division I Sacred Heart University in Connecticut.

Playing Division I isn’t something she had initially considered.

“I would never have thought that on my own,” Parodo said. “But all the around me, all my teammates, all my coaches, my family, especially my parents and my grandma, were just so encouraging all the time. Everybody believed in me.”

She’s been prepared for the new challenge not only by her experience on the Goldbacks, but also a recent experience with her club team Force NY.

“That team is just full of great players, great coaches, lots of experience all around,” Parodo said. “They really pushed me to want to better myself, because every single player on that team has so much skill. They have so much challenge to offer me and it makes me a better player, every practice I go to. I’ve improved so much since I’ve joined that team.”

The squad, made up of a team of Section 9 athletes, won its tri-state league, won a New York State title and placed second at Eastern Regionals in June, earning one of 16 qualifying spots for July’s U.S. Youth Soccer Cup nationals in Orlando, Florida.

“That’s so exciting,” Parodo said. “I’m thinking about this season right now, but at the same time that’s in the back of my head. I’m like, ‘I can’t wait.’”

Right now, her focus is on the remainder of the Goldbacks’ season. Newburgh is 5-4 after nine games and has a 3-2 record in the OCIAA Division I. They went 2-2 on their first run through the division, losing to the Pine Bush Bushmen and the Monroe-Woodbury Crusaders.

They were scheduled to see the Bushmen again on Tuesday and will see the Crusaders again on October 17. They’ve already beaten the Kingston Tigers twice. They need to finish at least 3-3 in the division to clinch a berth.

“I really want to go to sections,” Prodo said. “Every single practice and every single game, I’m just thinking about it non-stop. I want everybody to think about it, too, because that’s my goal.”