Main Street News

Sydney Segalla has been playing soccer for as long as she can remember.

“Both of my parents played sports, so I think it was in their cards to have their kids play sports as well. For me, soccer was what I looked forward to as a kid. I couldn’t wait for the weekend to play in my little league games,” she says. “I fell in love with it so early on in life.”

The Housatonic Valley Regional High School grad has a pretty accomplished athletic record. She played soccer and basketball throughout high school. In middle and high school, she played for a club soccer team based out of Bethany, CT, which was about an hour and a half away for her. She would practice two to three times with them per week, and then have two games each weekend.

“That was a pretty heavy training schedule. I would have to do school work during the car rides,” she says.

She was recruited by Boston College during her high school career, and in 2020, verbally committed to the school.

“I was 15 years old, and it was COVID time, so I didn’t get any visits or anything,” she says. “I had to either go see the schools on my own or go off of what I heard about them from others. It was definitely a big decision to make at such a young age, but with my older sister already going through the commitment process, my parents were well prepared to guide me through it.”

Now at Boston College, she studies psychology, plays soccer, and runs as a part of the track and field team. While soccer has always been a constant in her life, her interests changed with the addition of track.

“I still love soccer like I always have, but now I love track too. I never really saw that as a main part of my life before college.”

In addition to being on two teams at Boston College, Sydney is also a member of Team USA U20, which is a national team in which all of the players are under 20 years old. She also set a school record for Boston College back in July in the 400-meters at the 2023 United States Track & Field U20 Championships.

Her time of 52.58 placed her in the pool for the 4×400 relay at the Pan American U20 Games, which took place in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico on August 4-6. Additionally, Sydney’s time bested the previous Boston College record of 53.09. Later on at the Pan American U20 Games, Sydney placed first with her team in the 1600 relay with a time of 3:30.25. She established multiple new personal records and ultimately, she finished 16th in the ACC Championships and second in the Boston College All Time Performance.

“It is such an honor to be a member of the USA U20 team,” she says. “Being a part of the team and getting to go to Puerto Rico to compete was so surreal. If I was told a year ago that I would have this opportunity, I wouldn’t have believed you.”

She also says that being able to compete with the best high school and college athletes is “as good as it gets.”

Sydney is also sponsored by a variety of brands. Boston College is sponsored by New Balance, while Sydney is personally sponsored by Playa Bowls, which is an acai shop. She’s also sponsored by Drip Drop, an electrolyte/hydration packet brand, Goli Gummies, which is a dietary gummy supplement brand, and That’s It, which is a natural fruit bar brand.

“Being able to work with brands and receive some of my favorite products is amazing and wouldn’t be possible without the Boston College Athletics’ efforts to get you in touch [with these brands] and get your name out there,” she says.

Never forgetting her roots, however, Sydney says that living in such a small area has provided her with support that she didn’t know was possible, both throughout her high school athletic career, and even now that she’s in college over 150 miles away. “It’s been amazing for me as a support system,” she says. “The amount of texts and messages that I get on Instagram from people in the Northwest Corner is incredible, and it really lets me know I do have people supporting me. People do follow my athletic career. It feels so nice knowing that people do care and believe in me and my success.”

Perhaps most importantly, however, Sydney thanks her parents for their unwavering support. “They have dedicated so much time and effort to my athletic career, and continue to support me everyday,” she says. “I wouldn’t be here today without them.”