Multi-sport Star Gorski Ends Soccer Season, Prepares for Basketball

Brother Rice senior all-state soccer star Adam Gorski didn't get to lead his team to a repeat state championship this fall, but that's not all Gorksi has been doing during his time wearing the Warriors' orange and black.

After winning conference and district titles this year, Gorski and Brother Rice bowed out of the state tournament with a 2-1 loss to Utica Eisenhower in the regionals. Despite the bitter taste of not being able to claim a second straight state championship on the pitch, Gorski's athletic career as a Warrior has been nothing short of outstanding.

A four-year starter on the soccer team, Gorski helped navigate the school to two league and district titles, as well as the 2009 Division 1 state crown. Now, the ace defender is verbally committed to play college soccer at Ohio State University starting next fall.  

Besides his all-state accolades on the soccer field, Gorski was also the starting placekicker on the Brother Rice football team during the past two seasons, even booting a last second game-winning field goal last year to defeat rival Warren De La Salle on the squad's way to the Division 2 final four .

On the basketball court, Gorski is a smooth and steady point guard who took the Warriors to their first district hoops title in over a decade last winter. Running track last spring for the first time in his career, he was named all-conference, placing fifth in the league in the 400 meter dash.

"There really isn't much I haven't been able to experience and accomplish in my time here at Rice and I'm very blessed because of it," Gorski said. "I've always wanted to make my mark at the school for myself and leave behind a solid legacy of achievement.

"I think I've been able to do that (by) simply being a part of a lot of winning teams. I'm really not concerned about individual statistics, as long as my team comes away with the victory," he added.

On the soccer field, Gorski—a two-year captain—had eight goals and 13 assists in 2009, and seven goals and 14 assists in 2010. His key weapon in his vast artillery of on-field maneuvers are his throw-ins, powerful sideline chucks that often led to scoring chances and conversions for his teammates.

"Adam is an extremely intelligent soccer plays and the definition of a leader," said Warriors Coach Barry Brodsky, one of only two coaches in the state to win state championships in the same season with both boys and girls teams (Brodsky's girls squad at Marian High School won a state title last spring).

"He might not score a ton of goals, but you always have to account for him if you're an opposing coach," Brodsky said. "He's just one of those kids that is very effective without always putting the ball in the net a lot."

Brother Rice finished 16-3-4 on the soccer season, yet Brodsky wasn't disappointed with how things turned out.

"You're always dejected when you lose in the state tournament and don't necessarily achieve all of your goals for the season, but this group I had this year was just a superb group of guys who accomplished a lot of really great things."

After the team several key seniors to graduation last year, Gorski said he was worried at the beginning of the year about how things would turn out.

"At first, I thought we might be in trouble this season," he said. "But then we got something going with the new guys and started to play some high quality soccer. By the end of the year, I thought we were playing equally well as we did last fall. There some real nice young talent in the program and I'm certain the program's winning ways will continue after I'm gone."

Brodsky agrees with his captain's assessment.

"This year's sophomore class led by guys like Matt Harborowski and Russ Ciccerone contributed a lot to our season and made sure there wasn't much of a drop off from the seniors who left us last season," he said. "I'm excited for the future of this program.